Government to grant residence permits to selected foreign workers

The Czech Republic is offering selected qualified foreign workers the option of obtaining permanent residence permits after only two and a half years of living and working in the country, compared with the normal period of five years. The project participants will benefit from a 30-day protection period in the Czech Republic in order to find a new job, unless they had lost their previous job through their own fault. Permanent residence is also offered to the participant’s family, provided the participant passes all relevant tests.

Background

The pilot project on ‘Selection of qualified foreign workers’ is organised by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic (Ministerstvo práce a sociálních věcí ČR, MPSV ČR) in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo zahraničních věcí ČR, MZV ČR) and the Ministry of Interior (Ministerstvo vnitra ČR, MV ČR). The project commenced on 28 July 2003, and it is expected to run until 2008. Its objective is to encourage foreign experts who can integrate in Czech society to relocate to the Czech Republic together with their families.

Outline of project

In the first year, the project was open to citizens of Bulgaria, Croatia and Kazakhstan. Subsequently, the opportunity was extended to citizens of Belarus, Canada, Moldavia, Ukraine, as well as Serbia and Montenegro. More recently, citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and the Russian Federation have also been able to apply. Furthermore, the project is open to international graduates from Czech universities (apart from those whose studies have been part of development assistance) who completed their studies in 1995 or later. International graduates from Czech secondary schools can also take part in the programme, if they have passed their matriculation examinations, leaving certificate examinations, or obtained a certificate of apprenticeship in 2000 or later.

Candidates must have completed at least secondary level education with matriculation, and they are required to find a legal job in the Czech Republic by themselves. In order to do so, they will be granted a 30-day protection period in the Czech Republic. Moreover, they must score at least 25 points in a computerised selection test, which combines a selection of qualifications, taking into account competences of candidates, professional experience, language skills and family.

Acceptance into the programme is conditional, as mentioned above, upon having a job in the Czech Republic and holding previous professional experience as a result of working elsewhere. Having a job in the Czech Republic requires workers to obtain a work permit issued by the appropriate local labour office, in view of the current situation in the local labour market. This should guarantee that a foreign worker cannot take up a job which could otherwise be filled by a duly qualified Czech professional.

The pilot project is open only to employees, due to international experiences from similar programmes elsewhere, particularly in Quebec in Canada. Entrepreneurs tend to make use of similar projects when they are beneficial for them, and if they get a more attractive offer, an outflow of capital takes place. However, the Czech Republic is more interested in long-term benefits and prefers to encourage qualified employees who could have been pushed out of the programme by entrepreneurs in the case of specific quotas.

Assessment procedure

After the testing period, MPSV ČR will perform a so-called assessment of the integration level of the project participants. The ministry will gather information from the participants’ employers, representatives of communities and, if necessary, other institutions at the place of residence of the participants, in order to ascertain whether they have complied with the goals of the project – that is, whether they have managed to integrate as much as possible in Czech society. If MPSV ČR draws positive conclusions, it will issue a recommendation to the Asylum and Migration Policy Department of MV ČR to grant the permanent residence permit to the successful participants in the project and their next of kin within a shortened period of two and half years. The normal period is five years, which in itself represents a considerable reduction on the previously standard period of 10 years.

Commentary

It is generally accepted that educated foreigners deciding to live and work in the Czech Republic are beneficial both for the country and its economy. This pilot project also responds to data from the analyses of the changing demographic structure of society, whereby the proportion of the dependent elderly population is increasing and the percentage of the economically active population is declining. The interest levels of foreigners to move to the Czech Republic is confirmed by the fact that more than 255,000 people from abroad currently live in the country, which is more than in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.

Jaroslav Hála and Soňa Veverková, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs