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Employee Card: Basic Information

What is an employee card?

An employee card is a new type of permit for long-time residence in the territory of the Czech Republic (CR) where the purpose of the foreign national’ stay (longer than 3 months) is employment. A foreign national who has an employee card is entitled:

• to reside in the territory of the CR and, at the same time,

• to work in the job for which the employee card was issued, or

• to work in the job for which consent was granted to him/ her due to previous legislation or to work in the job which was properly notified by foreign national (in connection with changing employer, job title or taking up employment with an additional job at the same employer or additional employer). It means if this foreign national received Ministry of Interior´s notification about fulfillment of conditions for making such a change or if he/ she recieved decision about granting consent with the change due to previous legislation.
   

An employee card replaces the visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of employment, a long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment and a Green Card, which will no longer be issued. Blue Cards will continue to be issued.

An employee card is a plastic card with biometric features.

An employee card is most often issued for the duration of the employer-employee relationship, for the validity of recognition authority´s decision about employment permit or professional work, but not for more than 2 years, with an option to repeatedly extend its validity.

The deadline for making a decision on an application for an employee card is 60 days; or 90 days in especially complicated cases or if the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior has requested the Employment Agency of the CR - a regional branch office or the branch office for the Capital City of Prague - to issue a binding statement of opinion.
 

For whom is an employee card intended?

An employee card is intended for foreign nationals from all the countries around the world. But not for

• citizens of the EU/EEA Member States and Switzerland and

• their family members who are citizens of other states but hold a residence card for a family member of a citizen of the EU/EEA and Switzerland or those who have applied for such a card.
   

Which types of employment is an employee card intended for?

With regard to professional qualifications, an employee card is intended for all types of employment regardless of the level of required professional qualifications.

However, the job vacancy for which an application for an employee card can be filed must come from the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards. Subject to the consent of the employer, these vacant jobs can be published on the Internet Integrated Portal of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs where you can find them.

Therefore, an employee card always relates to the specific job (there can also be more job positions at the same time) for which it was issued or, if applicable, to a job for which the Ministry of the Interior's consent was granted due to previous legislation or which was notified by foreign national as a new job position in connection with changing employer or job, and if he/ she fulfilled conditions established for making such change by the law.
 

Dual and Non-Dual Nature of an Employee Card

An employee card is of a dual nature in the sense that it entitles the foreign national to both reside in the territory of the CR and be employed, without the foreign national having to make applications in two places, i.e. to apply additionally to the Employment Agency of the CR - a regional branch office or the branch office for the Capital City of Prague - for an employment permit.

An employee card also exists in the form of a non-dual document, in which case it is basically only a residence permit, and this applies to a foreign national who is still required by the Employment Act No. 435/2004 Coll. to have an employment permit or who has a free access to the labour market pursuant to the Employment Act (i.e. he or she comes under the definition in Section 98 of the Employment Act). You can find more about these cases in the section titled Special Cases / Non-Dual Form of an Employee Card).

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Submitting an Application for an Employee Card

You must submit an application for an employee card in person at the embassy of the CR with the appropriate territorial jurisdiction. You are only entitled to submit the application at the embassy of the CR in the state of which you are a citizen or, if applicable, the state that issued your travel document, or in the state where you have long-term or permanent residence. Compliance with this condition is waived for a foreign national who is a citizen of a state that appears on the list of countries whose citizens are entitled to submit an application for a long-term visa or a long-term or permanent residence permit at any embassy of the CR (Ordinance No. 429/2010 Coll.).

You are also entitled to submit an application for an employee card in the territory of the CR at an office of the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) of the CR, if you are already staying in the territory of the CR on a visa for a stay of over 90 days or on the basis of a long-term residence permit for some other purpose, different than employment. In that case, you may submit an application until the very end of validity of such residence permit. However you are not entitled to lodge the application for employee card if you are residing on the territory on the bases of leave to remain long-term visa or long-term visa issued for the purpose of seasonal work.  If you are holder of leave to remain long-term residence permit  you are entitled to submit the application for employee card provided you reside on the territory for a continuous period of time of 3 years  based on leave to remain long-term visa and leave to remain long term residence permit.
 

Administrative fee

Submission of the application for employee card is charged with the administrative fee. As far as the applications submitted at the embassy are concerned the administrative free is equal to 5 000 CZK. Administrative fee should be paid generally in the foreign currency. If the administrative fee is not paid at the submission of the application at the embassy,   the application will not be examined and the proceedings will be terminated. In case of the application submitted at the territory at the MOI office administrative fee of 2 500 CZK  will be charged. Administrative free should be paid in the form of a revenue stamp(s). It is not possible to pay administrative fee in cash on MOI offices. If the administrative fee is not paid upon the submission of the application or only a part of it is paid applicant will be noticed in writing to pay the administrative fee within fifteen days time. When the payment is not made within this deadline it is the reason for termination of the examination of your application. Same applies when the administrative fee is upon the notice paid only partially. You can find the overview of administrative fees here.

In case of applications for employee card that were submitted before 15.8.2017, the administrative fee of 2 500 CZK is still charged (no matter where the application was submitted) when the long term residence permit card (employee card) is handed over to you. In case of same applications that were submitted from August 15th, 2017 to July 30th, 2019 you had to pay 1 500 CZK for acceptance of the application, so you still have to pay administrative fee 1 000 CZK for handing over the card to you.

An employee card can be applied for by submitting a special application form titled “Application for an Employee Card” where you must also state the number of the job vacancy according to the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards, in addition to providing the relevant information.
 

You must attach the following to an application for an employee card:

1. a valid travel document,

2. a document confirming availability of accommodation,

3. 1 photograph showing the current appearance of the foreign national,

4. a contract of employment, an agreement on work activity (or at least an agreement for a future contract where the parties agree to enter into a contract of employment or an agreement on work activity by an agreed deadline). The aforementioned documents must contain a stipulation which provides that regardless of the scope of work, the agreed monthly salary will not be lower than the basic monthly minimum wage and that weekly working hours will be at least 15 hours,

5. documents proving the professional qualifications for performance of the desired job, if this condition follows from the nature of the employment or an international agreement sets such a condition, particularly

   • a document proving the required education (such as a diploma); in justified cases, particularly if reasonable doubt exists as to whether you have the required education or whether your education is appropriate for the nature of employment, you will be obliged, at the request of an administrative authority, to prove and submit a document certifying that your foreign education has been recognised by the relevant authority of the CR,

   • a document proving the required professional qualifications, if such qualifications are required according to other legal regulations (for example, a fork-lift truck operator licence or the appropriate driving license for a tram/bus driver, etc.),

   • a document proving that you meet the requirements for performing an occupation referred to as “regulated occupation”, if your application concerns this kind of occupation; if you do not already hold such a document, you must apply to the relevant recognition authority of the CR for recognition of your professional qualifications, after filing the application for an employee card. Issuance of the employee card is contingent on your submission of an affirmative decision of the recognition authority,

6. upon request, a document similar to an extract from the Penal Register,

7. document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measure of Ministry of Health on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses (Medical report).
    

In case your employer is job agency and you will be temporarily allocated by this job agency to another employer, it is necessary to submit also document in which there is name, surname, citizenship, birthdate, birthplace and place of residence of foreign national. You have to also add kind of work you will do, place of work, the name of the employer and employer´s registered office.

You can find form of this document here.

Originals or else officially authenticated copies of all of the attached documents must be submitted. Travel document must be submitted in original. ​All submitted documents in a foreign language must be submitted in their original version and with an officially certified translation into the Czech language. The required attachments to the application must not be older than 180 days, except for the travel document and the photograph of the foreign national, provided that it corresponds to his or her current appearance.

It also applies that before a long term visa is issued for the purpose of collecting an employee card (D/VR), the foreign national is required to present medical travel insurance document and, upon request, proof of the payment of the insurance premium. The foreign national must present this document not to the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior but to the embassy, and such insurance must only be valid for the period from the date of entry into the territory of the CR until the time when public health insurance coverage will apply to him or her, pursuant to the Public Health Insurance Act - i.e., principally from the date on which the visa was issued, until commencement of employment (as stated in the submitted documents).

In the case of a foreign national who has applied for an employee card in the territory of the CR or has arrived to the territory of the CR otherwise than with a D/VR, it is not necessary to present a document on travel medical insurance.

The requirement attachments to the application are also different if the employee card operates in the non-dual mode. You can find more information in the section titled Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode Employee Card.

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Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode Employee Card

In some special cases, which are stated below, a foreign national who wishes to reside in the territory of the CR on a long-term basis for the purpose of employment and has the right of free access to the labour market or continues to be subject to the obligation to obtain an employment permit issued by the Employment Agency of the CR can also apply for an employee card. In these cases, the right of free access to the labour market or the employment permit entitle the foreign national to perform a job and the employee card will serve merely as a long-term residence permit to him or her, i.e. it will operate in non-dual mode.
 

A. Free Access to the Labour Market of the CR

Pursuant to Section 98 of the Employment Act No. 435/2004 Coll., the right of free access to the labour market of the CR is held for example by a foreign national who

• has obtained secondary or tertiary professional education or tertiary professional education at a conservatory or university education in the CR, or

• wishes to be employed in the CR as a pedagogical worker or academic worker of a university or as a cleric of a church or religious society registered in the CR, or

• has been posted to the CR for provision of services by his or her foreign employer based in some other EU/EEA Member State or in Switzerland.
   

An employee card can be issued to a foreign national for the duration of the employer-employee relationship according to the submitted documents (for example, a contract of employment) but not for more than 2 years, with an option of repeated extension of its validity.

A foreign national can take up employment after arriving to the CR, if he or she has a valid visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of collecting an employee card.

If such a foreign national changes his or her employer or job or finds additional employment and continues to be a foreign national with free access to the labour market even in the case of this new employment, he or she must notify the Ministry of the Interior of this fact within 3 working days from the date on which this fact occurred, using the form titled "Notification by a Foreign National with an Employee Card about Termination of Employment, Change of Position, Change of Employer or Employment in an Additional Job or with an Additional Employer".
 

Required Attachments to an Application for Issue of an Employee Card – an Employee Card with a Non-Dual Nature and Free Access to the Labour Market

Therefore, a foreign national with free access to the labour market is obliged to attach the following to an application for an employee card of non-dual nature:

1. a travel document,

2. a document confirming availability of accommodation,

3. 1 photograph,

4. a contract of employment, an agreement on work activity (or at least a contract on a future contract, in which the parties agree to enter into a contract of employment or an agreement on work activity by an agreed deadline). The aforementioned documents must contain a stipulation which provides that regardless of the scope of work, the agreed monthly salary will not be lower than the basic monthly minimum wage and that the amount of weekly working hours will be at least 15 hours,

5. a document proving that the foreign national comes under the definition in Section 98 of the Employment Act, that is, a document proving his or her right of free access to the labour market – the specific form of a document proving this fact depends on which provision of Section 98 of the Employment Act provides the foreign national with free access to the labour market; in some cases, this right can arise directly from a contract of employment, or else from the content of the employer-employee relationship, or it will be necessary to prove such right with some other separate document (such as a document on obtaining secondary or tertiary professional education or tertiary professional education at a conservatory or university education in the CR),

6. upon request, a document similar to an extract from the Penal Register,

7. upon request a document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measure of Ministry of Health on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses (Medical report).
    

Neither a document proving the professional qualifications to perform the given job nor a document on recognition of foreign education will be requested from the foreign national. The job is not required to appear among the jobs in the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards.

Before a long-term visa for the purpose of collecting an employee card (D/VR) is entered, the foreign national is required to present a travel medical insurance document and, upon request, proof of payment of the insurance premium. The foreign national must present this document not to the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior but to the embassy, and such insurance must only be valid for the period from the date of entry into the territory of the CR until the time when the public health insurance coverage will apply to him or her pursuant to the Public Health Insurance Act – that is, principally from the date on which the visa was issued, until commencement of employment (as stated in the submitted documents).

In the case of a foreign national who has applied for an employee card in the territory of the CR or has arrived to the territory of the CR otherwise than with a D/VR, it is not necessary to present a document on travel medical insurance.

Employees referred to as “posted employees” who have free access to the labour market are required to present a document on travel medical insurance for the entire duration of their stay because such employees will not be covered by public health insurance.
 

B. Employment Permit

A foreign national who wishes to reside in the CR on a long-term basis for the purpose of employment with an employee card must apply to the relevant regional branch office of the Employment Agency of the CR for an employment permit only if,

• he or she has been posted by his or her foreign employer based outside the territory of the EU/EEA or Switzerland to perform work in the CR (to perform the tasks arising from a contract entered into between this employer and a Czech legal entity or natural person), or if

• he or she is working as an intern in an employer-employee relationship with an employer in the CR, or if

• a valid international agreement provides so in his or her case.
   

In the above cases, a foreign national will apply for an employment permit for a job not appearing in the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards.

An employee card may be issued to a foreign national for the period of validity of his/her employment permit. Extension of its validity is a condition for possible extension of validity of his or her employee card.

A foreign national may take up employment after arriving to the CR if he or she has a valid employment permit and a visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of collecting an employee card, other long term or short term visa or residence permit.

If such a foreign national changes employer or job or finds additional employment and continues to be a foreign national with an employment permit even for this new employment, he or she must notify the Ministry of the Interior of this fact within 3 working days from the date on which such a situation occurred, and must do so using the form titled "Notification from a Foreign National with an Employee Card about Termination of Employment, Change of Job, Change of Employer or Employment in an Additional Job or with an Additional Employer".
 

Required Appendices to an Application for an Employee Card – an Employee Card of a Non-Dual Nature accompanied by an Employment Permit

A foreign national with an employment permit is required to attach the following to an application for an employee card, which is of a non-dual nature:

1. a travel document,

2. a document confirming availability of accommodation,

3. 1 photograph,

4. a contract of employment, an agreement on work activity (or at least an agreement for a future contract, in which the parties agree to enter into a contract of employment or an agreement on work activity by an agreed deadline). The aforementioned documents must contain a stipulation which provides that regardless of the scope of work, the agreed monthly salary will not be lower than the basic monthly minimum wage and that the amount of weekly working hours will be at least 15 hours,

5. an employment permit; if the foreign national applied for an employment permit and it has not yet been issued, this fact may be indicated (ticked).in the application for an employee card, also supplying the reference number of the filed application, the date on which the application was filed and the regional branch office of the Employment Agency of the CR where the foreign national has applied for the employment permit,

6. upon request, a document similar to an extract from the Penal Register,

7. upon request a document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measure of Ministry of Health on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses (medical report).
    

Neither a document proving the professional qualifications to perform the given job nor a document confirming recognition of foreign education will be requested from the foreign national. The job is not required to appear among the jobs in the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards.

For employees referred to as “posted employees” with an employment permit [sent by a foreign employer to perform work in the territory of the CR (Section 95 of the Employment Act)] who have not entered into a contract of employment with a local employer, it will not be necessary to submit a contract of employment and it will be deemed to be sufficient to submit what is referred to as a “posting letter”, from which it is also clear that regardless of the scope of work, the agreed monthly salary is not or will not be lower than the basic minimum monthly wage and that the amount of weekly working hours will be at least 15 hours.

Before a long-term visa for the purpose of collecting an employee card (D/VR) is entered, the foreign national is required to present a document on medical travel insurance and, upon request, a document on the payment of the insurance premium. The foreign national must present this document not to the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior but to the embassy, and the insurance must only be valid for the period from the date of entry into the territory of the CR until the time when the public health insurance will apply to him or her pursuant to the Public Medical Health Act – that is, principally from the date, on which the visa was issued, until commencement of employment (as stated in the submitted documents).

In the case of a foreign national who has applied for an employee card in the territory of the CR or has arrived to the territory of the CR otherwise than with a D/VR, it is not necessary to present a document on travel medical insurance.

Employees who are referred to as “posted employees” with an employment permit may be required to submit a travel medical insurance document for the entire duration of their stay because such employees are covered by the public health insurance only in certain cases.
 

Partners, Executives and other members of statutory body of the commercial corporations

With the effect from August 15th, 2017  it is not possible to issue employee card  to a foreign national who as a partner, member of the statutory body  of  commercial corporation or cooperative   performs tasks arising from the subject of the activities of such legal entity.  This is not possible even if foreign national was issued Employment Permit by regional branch of Employment Office.

If the foreign national was issued employee card  for this reason in the past, it  is still valid,  however it not possible to prolong its validity any more (see also item Extension of validity of employee card).

The  foreign nationals who are statutory body of  commercial corporations or their members may choose as a purpose of their stay " Bussiness" purpose and apply for long-term visa for bussiness purposes at the embassy. Those who already reside  on the territory of Czech Republic for at least 5 years may apply for new  long-term residence permit  for the business purposes. Such application has to be lodged on the territory at MOI office.
 

Seasonal work

With the effect from August 15^th, 2017 solely the long term visa  for the purpose of seasonal work  are issued to foreign nationals  who intend to perform working activities that are dependent on changes of seasons.  Present employee cards issued to foreign nationals for the purposes of seasonal employment  are still valid and their validity can be extended under the provisions of Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals  effective till August 14^th, 2017.

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Filing an Application for an Employee Card by a Foreign National Residing in the Territory of the CR on a Long-term Visa Issued for Some Other Purpose than Employment, Who Obtained an Employment Permit for Employment in Which He or She Intends to Conti

It will no longer be possible to issue a long-term visa for the purpose of employment.

However, a foreign national residing in the territory of the CR on a long-term visa long-term residence permit issued for some other purpose than employment is not prohibited from obtaining an employment permit and working in the CR.

If you are residing in the territory of the CR on a long-term visa or long-term residence permit issued for some other purpose than employment but, after arriving to the territory of the CR, you find a job, for which you will obtain an employment permit and you will want to continue to work in the same employment, file an application for an employee card before expiration of the validity of the long-term visa because it will no longer be possible to issue an employment permit to you based on your residence in the territory of the CR on a long-term residence permit, except in exceptional cases defined by the Employment Act (a holder of a long-term residence permit for the purpose of carrying on business + the cases specified in part b) here).

When filing this type of application, the job that you have is not required to appear in the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards but the MoI CR will request a binding opinion statement from the Employment Agency of the CR on your further employment in the given job within the proceedings on your application.

You must attach the required attachments stated here to this application for an employee card.

This procedure does not apply to Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card, during which a foreign national may still obtain an employment permit on the strength of which he or she will later apply for an employee card, nor does this procedure apply to a foreign national with free access to the labour market.

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Course of the Proceedings on Application for an Employee Card

Application Proceedings

An application for an employee card must always be submitted in person. (The only exception applies for applications submitted at an embassy, where the embassy can waive this obligation in justified cases.)

In case the application for an issuing the Employee Card will be submitted in some other manner (i.e. via a postal services provider, via an authorized representative or electronically) the administrative procedure will not be commenced. In this case, the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic will state this fact in a decision that will be noted to the file. Then, an applicant will be informed and the application will be returned to him/her with all the enclosed documents. It is not possible to appeal against this decision.

In the case of applications submitted at an embassy, the embassy acts merely as an intermediary between the applicant and the authority responsible for the decision, which is the MoI CR. During the proceedings, the embassy communicates with the applicant; at the beginning of the proceedings, the embassy requests the applicant to eliminate any deficiencies in the application and invites the applicant to an interview; the documents prepared by the MoI are delivered to the applicant via the embassy; or else the embassy requests the applicant to come to have a visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of collecting an employee card entered into his or her passport.

The proceedings on your application are subject to the provisions of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, the Administrative Procedure Code (pdf, 549 kB), with specified exceptions, and possibly to other related Acts.

If the required attachments have not been attached to an application and the application was submitted to the embassy, embassy will terminate the proceeding held on  your application. If the application has other deficiencies or it is lodged at the territory of the Czech Republic, the administrative authority (embassy, Ministry of Interior) will request you to eliminate the defects in the application in adequate time limit. Due to this request the time limit for decision is suspended. During the proceedings, the MoI CR/embassy can invite you to an interview, request you to provide additional documents, or else send you a written request to provide such appendices, take your fingerprints or acquire an image of you. The interview may closely follow the submission of application.
 

Submitting Additional Documents to an Application

Submit additional documents to an application either in person, via your authorised representative or by post. You must submit the documents requested from you by the deadlines set.

A document issued by a foreign state must satisfy the requirement for higher authentication (super-legalisation), or Apostilles, unless documents were issued by a state with which the CR has a relevant bilateral agreement on legal assistance that specifies which public documents are exempted from the requirement for higher authentication.

A document prepared in a foreign language must also be submitted in the original version as in an officially certified translation into the Czech language.

If you are requested to provide some additional documents to the application during the proceedings and if the application has been submitted with an embassy of the CR, you may deliver everything to the given embassy, but you may also send the additional documents by registered mail directly to the Ministry of the Interior.

If your application has been submitted within the territory of the CR, send any additional documents to the application by registered mail to the address stated in the request or to the address of the office where the application was submitted.

Always state the reference number of your application.

Failure to provide the required documents by the set deadlines constitutes a reason to stop the proceedings on the application. During the proceedings, you can also submit other documents which you consider to be important for examination of your application.
 

Deadlines for Processing Applications

The statutory deadline for processing an application for an employee card is 60 days from the date of the filing of the application. In especially complicated cases or if the OAMP has requested the Employment Agency to issue a binding opinion statement (a request referred to in Section 42g(6) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals), the deadline is 90 days from the date of the filing of the application.

The general deadlines defined in the Administrative Procedure Code apply to the processing of an application for extension of an employee card.

The deadlines for processing an application shall cease to elapse or be extended in the cases defined by the law, for example, if the proceedings are interrupted by a resolution.
 

Approval of an Application for an Employee Card

If your application is approved (if you have met the conditions for issue of an employee card), the office of the MoI CR/embassy where you have submitted the application will contact you.

If you are not going to be present in the territory of the CR during the time when the decision on your application submitted in the territory of the CR is expected to be made, notify the appropriate office of the MoI CR of this fact.

If you have submitted an application for an employee card abroad and your application has been approved (if you have met the conditions for issue of an employee card), the embassy, upon an instruction from the MoI CR, will issue a visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of collecting an employee card (D/VR) to you. Before the visa is entered, you will be requested to present a travel medical insurance document for the period from the date of your entry into the territory of the CR to the date, on which your public medical insurance in the CR will become effective.

Within 3 working days upon arrival you are obliged to visit a respective office of the Ministry of the Interior to fulfill the reporting requirement and to provide your biometric data that are necessary for the issue of the residence card. The Embassy of the Czech Republic where you have submitted the application at will give you the address of the respective MOI office. If you have applied for the Employee Card in the territory of the Czech Republic, you are obliged to visit a respective office of the Ministry of the Interior in order to provide your biometric data as well. You will be called by the office of the Ministry of the Interior in this case.

Failure to report after your arrive in territory of the Czech Republic within the deadline mentioned above or failure to report upon the call of the Ministry of the Interior, if the application was submitted in the territory of the Czech Republic, will be a reason to discontinue the proceedings on the application.

If you have met the conditions for an issuing the Employee Card, the "Certificate on Compliance with Condition for Issue the Employee Card" will be issued you by the Ministry of the Interior. With this Certificate you can be accepted to work and to start working from the date of its issue (i.e. before the date of the issue of the residence card). This Certificate will be issued at the respective MOI office upon its visit. The issue of the Certificate does not depend on the date of the collection of your biometric data. The Certificate will not be issued to a foreigner who is a holder of the Employment Permit issued by the Labour Office of the Czech Republic (§ 95 - 97 of the Emplyoment Act) or who has a free access to the labour market in the territory of the Czech Republic (§ 98 of the Emplyoment Act).

Within the set deadline but no later than 60 days after the acquisition of your biometric data, you must appear in person at the office of the MoI CR for the purpose of collecting your employee card and for the purpose of verification of the unique link between you and the issued card, verification of your identity, or rather the accuracy of the personal data stated in the card and the functionality of the data carrier containing the biometric data. Failure to report to collect the residence permit card constitutes a reason for discontinuation of the proceedings on the application.

Before acceptance of biometric card, foreign national is obliged to submit employer confirmation that he/she started to work on the work position on which employee card should be issued. There is no form of this confirmation according to the law. It is possible to use form in the section Application forms or form which is part of summon to pick up employee card. Employment contract is not such a confirmation!

If you do not submit this confirmation that you started to work on the work position in the term of 60 days from biometrics, it is reason to discontinuance of proceedings.

An employee card is most often issued for the duration of the employer-employee relation but not for more than 2 years, with the option of repeated extension of validity. In the case of a job performed on an employment permit, an employee card may be issued to a foreign national for the validity of the employment permit. If employee card is issued on work position where foreign national works on the basis of permission of recognition authority, employee card will be issued at the longest on the term given by the decision of this recognition authority.

During your stay in the CR, do not forget to report any changes in your personal details that may occur.
 

Right to stay on the territory during the examination of the application

If the application for employee card or  for its prolongation is lodged on the territory and in accordance with the conditions provided by the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals  (for instance in prescribed deadlines) and  period of validity of present long term visa or long term residence permit expires before the  final decision on the application is taken, the present long term visa or long term residence permit is deemed  to be valid until the decision on the application gains legal force. The right to stay on the territory will however cease before legal force of the decision on your application in case of conviction to punishment of expulsion, due to the administrative expulsion, application for international protection, and specifically in case of employee cards by expiration of 60 days period after the termination of present job (no application for the change of employer submitted).

The right to stay on the territory during the examination of the application is certified by long-term visa sticker attached to the travel document of the applicant. It is so called "Transitory visa" or “Bridging label”.
 

Rejection of an Application for an Employee Card

The MoI CR will reject an application for an employee card, for example, if

1. the foreign national fails to meet certain conditions for issue of an employee card (for example, the job does not appear in the central register of job vacancies that can be filled by holders of employee cards; in the case of this type of card, the condition of the existence of an employer-employee relationship complying with the requirements of the law has not been met or the condition of professional qualifications has not been met),

2. this concerns an application for an employee card submitted by a foreign national referred to in Section 42g(6) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, and the Employment Agency of the CR – a regional branch office or the branch office for the Capital City of Prague – has issued a binding opinion statement that further employment of the foreign national cannot be permitted due to the situation on the labour market,

3. the foreign national has failed at the request of the Ministry or embassy to submit the appropriate documents for verification of the information stated in the application within the set deadline, or if verification of this information was inconclusive, in spite of the fact that the interview has taken place or assessment of the submitted documents,

4. the foreign national provides false information in the application,

5. the foreign national appears in a register of personae non gratae,

6. the foreign national is included in the Schengen Information System,

7. the MoI CR has information that the costs associated with the stay of the foreign national in the territory would be borne by the Czech Republic,

8. the foreign national has submitted forged or altered required attachments, or the information important for consideration of the application stated in such attachments is untrue,

9. there is a reasonable risk that the foreign national could threaten the national security, could disrupt public order in a serious manner or could threaten the international relations of the CR during his or her stay in the territory,

10. there is a reasonable risk that during the foreign national’s stay in the territory of some other Schengen country, the foreign national could threaten its security or could disrupt public order in it in a serious manner or could threaten the international relations of Schengen countries,

11. the foreigner could threaten the public health during his next entry do the territory, that is suffering from a serious illness,specified in document proving the fullfilment of conditions on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses, if such this illness uccured before the entring the territory,

12. circumstances arise which indicate that the foreign national will not leave the territory after the end of the stay defined by the employee card, or that he or she intends to use the employee card for some other purpose than the one stated in the application,

13. before the long-term visa for the purpose of collecting an employee card is issued, the foreign national fails to submit a travel medical insurance document and, upon request, proof of payment of the insurance premium stated in the travel medical insurance document, except for the cases defined in Section 180j(4),

14. the stay of the foreign national in the territory is not in the interest of the CR or some other serious obstacle to the foreign national’s stay in the territory has been identified;

15. the foreign national has failed to pay a fine or the costs of proceedings incurred in connection with proceedings conducted according to this Act;

16. the foreign national had not fulfilled the propose of his/her present long-term visa or long-term residence permit unless he/ she proves that the propose of the long term residence had not been fulfilled only temporarily  and due to serious reasons. the foreign national circumvented the law  in order to be granted  long-term visa all long-term residence permit for instance by marriage of convenience, by a false declaration of paternity or he /she  became member of statutory body of a company or a co-operative only for the purpose;

17. the future employer of the foreign national is unreliable,

18. if employer is job agency and concurrently if foreign national works on the position on which job agency cannot mediate,

19. foreign national worked illegally.

If your application is rejected, the decision of the MoI CR on rejection of your application will be delivered to you in writing; if you have submitted your application at an embassy, the decision will most often be delivered via this embassy.
 

Appeal against a Decision on Rejection of an Application for an Employee Card

If your application for an employee card is rejected, you can submit an appeal against the decision on rejection of your application with the Commission for Decision-Making on the Matters of the Residence of Foreign Nationals within 15 days from the date of delivery of the decision. However, the appeal is to be submitted with the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior.

The deadline for filing an appeal will be deemed satisfied if the appeal is submitted with the Ministry of the Interior, the Department for Asylum and Migration Police by the last day of the deadline or if a mail consignment addressed to this authority containing the appeal is posted through a postal license or special postal licence holder or through an entity which has a similar status in some other state, on the last day of the deadline. An embassy of the CR is not an authority technically responsible for receiving an appeal, which means that filing an appeal with an embassy of the CR does not constitute compliance with the deadline for filing an appeal until the appeal is delivered to the Ministry of the Interior of the CR.

An appeal must indicate who has submitted it (name, surname, date of birth and place of residence, possibly a mail address), which matter it concerns and what is being proposed, and must also contain information on the person against which the decision is directed, to what degree the decision is being contested and what was considered to be the violation of laws or incorrectness of the decision or the proceedings preceding the decision. It must contain identification of the administrative authority for which the appeal is intended, and the signature of the person submitting the appeal. If the appeal has defects, the administrative authority will request the appellant to remove the defects in the appeal.

If the Ministry of the Interior (Department for Asylum and Migration Policy), fails to find a reason to cancel or change its own rejection decision (for what is referred to as auto-remedy procedure), it will refer the submit, along with its opinion, to its superior administrative authority for adjudication within 30 days from the delivery of the appeal. For proceedings on the matters of the residence of foreign nationals, the superior administrative authority of the Ministry of the Interior (Department for Asylum and Migration Policy) is the Commission for Decision-Making on the Matters of the Residence of Foreign Nationals. This Commission will then decide on the appeal and will deliver a written decision on the appeal to the applicant.

It is not possible to make an appeal if the reason of rejection decision of the application is that foreign national does not fulfill condition of criminal integrity or he/she is seen as danger of public order or national security. Decision becomes legally effective by its notification (it means by delivery to the foreign national or its representative, if there is). This decision can be contested by action submitted to relevant Regional Court due to the Code of Administrative Justice (law 150/2002). This only applies to the applications submitted from July 31th, 2019.

 Česky

Unreliable employer

The Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals excludes the issuance of an employee card or the granting of a consent with employment of a foreign national with a different employer, if this employer is unreliable. The concept of an unreliable employer is primarily designed to prevent concealed employment of foreign nationals by job agencies and to prevent those employers who systematically fail to comply with their obligations arising from other than industrial regulations (public medical insurance, social security) from employing foreign nationals.
 

Within the meaning of Section 178f of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, an employer is an unreliable employer in the following cases:

1. The employer is not a party that is free of debt
   An employer that is free of debt is an employer for whom there are no arrears registered with the Tax Authority, customs administration, arrears in insurance premium for social security and in insurance premium for medical insurance. An arrear is not deemed to be an arrear if delay in the payment or the dividing of the payment into instalments was permitted.

2. A fine for allowing performance of an illegal work was imposed on the employer
   An unreliable employer is an employer on whom a fine for allowing performance of an illegal work was imposed with a final effect during a period of 4 months preceding the filing of an application for an employee card.

3. The employer does not carry out any economic activity
   An unreliable employer is also an employer who does not carry out any economic activity in their line of business or the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic was unable to verify this fact.

4. The employer failed to comply with the obligation to register a foreign national for insurance
   An unreliable employer is an employer who failed the obligation to register their employee for participation in social security insurance or public medical insurance during the period of the last year.

5. The employer is in liquidation
   An unreliable employer is an employer who is in liquidation.

6. The employer’s registered office is not real
   An unreliable employer is also an employer who is a legal entity and whose office registered in public registers is not real. An office that is deemed to be real is an office where crucial decisions concerning the business management of the employer are taken or a place where the meetings of the employer’s management are held.
    

If some of the conditions above is fulfilled, unreliable employer can also be legal person or natural person to which foreign national is temporarily allocated by job agency on the basis of agreement between job agency and user (it means employer to whom foreign national is allocated by job agency).

The fact that an employer is unreliable is a reason not to issue an employee card to a foreign national, referred to in Section 46(6)(d) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals, or a reason not to grant consent with a change of an employer, referred to in Section 42g(7) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals. The unreliability of employer is an obstacle in case of the application for an extension the validity of the Employee Card as well.

 Česky

Extension of the Validity of an Employee Card

The validity of an employee card can be repeatedly extended, provided principally that the same conditions applicable to the issue of an employee card are met, and can be extended for the period for which a contract of employment or an agreement of work activity has been entered into but not for more than 2 years. In the case of a job performed on an employment permit, the validity of the employee card will be extended for a period corresponding to the period stated in the decision on extension of the employment permit. If recognition authority makes decision about employment permit or professional experience, validity of an employee card will be extended for the period according to this decision.

An application for extension of the validity of an employee card is to be filed at an office of the Ministry of the Interior. You must file the application no sooner than 120 days before expiration of the validity of the current employee card and the last day of the validity of the employee card at the latest.

Due to the fact that the fiction of validity of the current employee card apply to the permission to work in the job, for which the employee card was issued (see below for more information). You can work still on current position, if you are submitting the extension of employee card on the same position, that you are practicing already. In case you apply for extension of the validity of an Employee Card on the basis of work permit, you can still work if you recieved extension of work permit or if you applied for this extension in statutory deadline.

If reasons beyond the control of a foreign national prevented him or her from filing an application for extension of the validity of his or her employee card within the prescribed deadline, he or she shall be entitled to file the application within 5 working days after such reasons cease to exist. Until the expiration of this authorisation, the residence permit and work permit will be considered to be valid. It is the responsibility of the foreign national to cite and prove those reasons which prevented him/her from filing the application before the expiration of the validity of the current employee card to the administrative authority of his/her own iniciative. The foreign national has the obligation to state and prove these reasons. The foreign national is obliged to cite the reasons of later filing the application in the moment of filing the application at the latest.
 

Required Attachments to an Application for Extension of the Validity of an Employee Card.

An application for extension of an employee card is to be filed on a special form entitled "Application for an Employee Card".

A foreign national is required to attach the following to an application for extension of the validity of his or her employee card:

1. a travel document,

2. a document confirming availability of accommodation,

3. a contract of employment or an agreement on work activity (or else an amendment to the contract or agreement on extension for the period, for which the extension of the employee card is applied for),

4. a decision of the Employment Agency to extend the employment permit – this only applies to an employee card, which is of non-dual nature with an employment permit (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card) or in the event that the foreign national has changed his or her job position to a position, for which an employment permit has been issued to him or her, during his or her stay with an employee card,

5. documents proving the professional qualifications for performance of the requested job,

6. the obligation to submit this attachment only applies to an employee card of a dual nature, and specifically only if the document previously submitted to the OAMP ceased to be valid (for example, if a certificate on acquisition of professional qualifications, which the foreign national had attached to the application for an employee card, was limited in time and is already invalid at the time when the application for extension of the validity of the employee card is to be decided on),

7. upon request, a document similar to an extract from the Register of Criminal Records,

8. upon request, a document proving the fulfilment of conditions set out in the measure of the Ministry of Health on prevention of the spread of infectious illnesses (Medical report),

9. a photograph, if the appearance of the foreign national has changed.
    

In case your employer is job agency and you will be temporarily allocated by this job agency to another employer, it is necessary to submit for extension of the validity of an employee card also document in which there is name, surname, citizenship, birthdate, birthplace and place of residence of foreign national. You have to also add kind of work you will do, place of work, the name of the employer and employer´s registered office.

You can find form of this document here.

If you meet the conditions for extension of the validity of your employee card, you are obliged to appear in person at the MoI CR upon request for the processing of the information necessary for issue of an employee card, including the acquisition of your biometric data. Failure to appear at the MoI CR upon request is a reason for discontinuing the proceedings on your application.

Within the deadline set by the MoI CR but not later than within 60 days from the day of the acquisition of your biometric data, you are obliged to appear at the MoI CR to collect a residence permit card. Failure to appear to collect a residence permit card is a reason for discontinuing the proceedings on the application.
 

Fiction of Validity of the Current Employee Card

Similarly like in other cases of applications for extension of the validity of a long-term residence permit, what is referred to as the “fiction of validity” of the current residence permit will be applied to an application for extension of the validity of an employee card, provided that the conditions defined in Section 47(7) of the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals are met. This fiction of validity is usually confirmed by what is known as a bridging label or transitory visa at the request of the foreign national.

Since 17 August 2015 the fiction of validity of the current employee card applies also to the authorisation to work in the job for which the employee card was issued. However the authorisation to work terminates in case the respective regional office of the Employment Agency issues the binding opinion that further employment in the job for which the employee card was issued cannot be approved. In this case the authorisation to work terminates as soon as the decision rejecting application for the extension of the employee card is delivered to the applicant.

For a foreign national with an employee card in the non-dual mode (that is, a foreign national with an employment permit or free access to the labour market (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card), the authorisation to perform the job is not linked to the employee card. Thus, a foreign national with a valid employment permit (or with a valid extended employment permit) or with free access to the labour can continue to perform his or her job even after expiration of the validity of his or her employee card, based on the fiction of the validity of the current employee card without limit.
 

Partners, Executives and other members of statutory body of the commercial corporations

It is not possible to extend the validity of the employee card  issued to a foreign national who as a partner, member of the statutory body  of  commercial corporation or cooperative   performs tasks arising from the subject of the activities of such legal entity.  This is not possible even if foreign national was issued Employment Permit by regional branch of Employment Office. Applications for prolongation of validity of such employee card submitted after August 15th,.2017 will have to be rejected.

If you were issued employee card for this purpose in the past you can find yourself other job different from performance of activities in the object of business activities of your company or cooperative and notify to the Ministry of the Interior change of employer or job title.

The  foreign nationals who are statutory body of  commercial corporations or their members may choose as a purpose of their stay " Bussiness" purpose and apply for long-term visa for bussiness purposes at the embassy. Those who already reside  on the territory of Czech Republic for at least 5 years may apply for new  long-term residence permit  for the business purposes. Such application has to be lodged on a territory at MOI office.

Differently in cases where the employee card was issued to the foreign national who is a member of commercial corporation or a statutory body of commercial corporation and was transferred to work for such corporation by his/her employer abroad, the employee card will still be issued and also prolonged provided  he/she is holder of the employment permit issued under § 95 of the Act on Employment.

 Česky

Change of Employer or Job or Taking up Employment in an Additional Job or with an Additional Employer

Foreign national who resides in the Czech Republic is obliged to notify to the Department of Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior change employer, change of the job or if he/she wants to be employed on additional job position at the same employer or additional employer.

All these changes (change of employer, change of the job, taking up employment in an additional job at the same employer or at another employer) must be notified at the MOI office personally or by post through data box or by email with guaranteed electronic signature. Notification must be submitted on specialized correctly completed template. Template must fulfill all prescribed conditions. If template is filled incorrectly, it is considered as not submitted!
 

To submit this notification, these conditions must be fulfilled:

1. Only foreign national (holder of valid employee card) can notify any of changes above. Foreign national who is not holder of valid employee card is not allowed to notify any of changes.

2. Change must be notified at the latest 30 days before it happens. The most important is the day which is filled in the official form.

3. You can notify change at the earliest 6 months from takeover your employee card (it means at the earliest 6 months from the first employment). It does not apply, if labor-law relationship was terminated due to reasons in § 52 letter a) to e) law 262/2006, Labour Code, by agreement for the same reasons, termination of employment by employer in probationary period or by immediate cancellation due § 56 Labour Code.

4. It is not possible to notify change of employer or change of employment in an additional job at the another employer, if new employer is job agency.

If you do not fulfill conditions above, notification will be considered as not submitted!
 

Foreign national is obliged to submit these annexes to the notification about change:

1. Document that labor-law relationship still lasts or it ended (and to which date).
   If employee card was submitted to the foreign national who is deployed employee or statuthory authority or business corporation companion for work in the subject of its activity, foreign national is only obliged to submit this application requirement, if he/she entered into labor-law relationship to work performance for this corporation.
   
   If change is notified after the end of original labor-law relationship, notification must be submitted at the latest 60 days from the end of relationship. No matter the reasons is, validity of employee card will be terminated according to law (§ 63 law 326/1999). If the notification is not made in person or via data box or email with a guaranteed electronic signature, it must be actually delivered to the Ministry no later than the 60th day after the end of the employment relationship (it is not sufficient to send the notification by post on this last day).

2. Employment contract, agreement of working activity, future employment contract or future employment agreement which is made for work performance on the new job position.
   Employment contract must be made for work on job position which is listed in Central register of vacancies for holders of employee cards. In case of change of employer or change of position, employment contract must contain that weekly working hours will be at least 15 hours and montly wage or income must not be lower than basic rate of monthly minimum wage.
   
   In case of a notification of work in another position with a current or a different employer a condition of the length of working hours and the amount of wage or income need not to be met.

3. Written statement of future employer that foreign national is capable to do the job which is required by employer or which is defined in legislation.
   The form of the statement is available here.

If you do not submit any of these mentioned annexes above, notification will be considered as not submitted. It could lead to termination of validity of your employee card. If facts mentioned in these annexes are not clearly proven, notification will be considered as not sumbitted too.

All annexes must be submitted as originals or certified copies (or converted to electronic form by authorized conversion). If you want to submit documents in different language than Czech or Slovak, you have to submit them with certified translation to Czech language.

Future employer and foreign national will be informed about fulfillment of conditions of change notification up to 30 days from delivery by Ministry of the Interior, Department of Asylum and Migration Policy. In case of conditions fulfillment, future employer and foreign national will recieve document "Notification of compliance". Foreign national can start working from delivery of this notification, at the earliest from the day mentioned in notification (date of change).
 

Foreign nationals with free access to the labor market

Information mentioned above does not apply for holders of employee cards who has free access to the labor market in the Czech Republic (according to § 98 law 435/2004) or who has work permit and he/she wants to change employer, job position or taking up employment in an additional job at he same employer or another employer.

These foreign nationals are obliged to notify change up to 3 working days from the day of change. The most preffered way is to do it by specialized form called „Notification form for employee card holder about termination of employment, change of job position, change of employer or taking up employment in an additional job or with an additional employer.

 Česky

Information for Holders of Visas for a Stay of Over 90 Days for the Purpose of Employment, Long-term Residence Permits for the Purpose of Employment and Green Cards

A visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of employment, a long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment and a Green Card will no longer be issued.

Holders of Long-term Visas for the Purpose of Employment

Before the validity of a long-term visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of employment expires, apply for an employee card with an office of the Ministry of the Interior. You can file an application for an employee card not later than before expiration of the period of validity of your visa for a stay of over 90 days. Do not apply at a regional office of the Employment Agency of the CR for extension of the period of validity of your employment permit unless you are one of those foreign nationals who continue to be obliged to have it, i.e. for whom an employee card operates in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card).

If you are one of those foreign nationals who continue to be obliged to have an employment permit, i.e. for whom an employee card operates in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card), apply for this type of employee card.

If you are not one of these foreign nationals mentioned above, apply for an employee card with a dual mode according to the procedure and the conditions stated in the section Filing an Application for an Employee Card by a Foreign National Residing in the Territory of the CR on a Long-term Visa Issued for Some Other Purpose than Employment and Who Obtained an Employment Permit for Employment Which He or She Intends to Continue on an Employee Card.

If you are not a foreign national who continues to be obliged to have an employment permit, i.e. for whom an employee card operates in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card), but, in spite of this, a regional branch of the Employment Agency of the CR issued an employment permit to you because you applied for it or for its extension before the amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals became effective, this employment permit shall remain valid and you can apply for an employee card in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card).

Holders of Long-term Residence Permits for the Purpose of Employment

If you are a holder of a long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment, apply for extension of your long-term residence permit, which will be extended for you in the form of an employee card, if the statutory conditions are met. Do not apply with a regional branch office of the Employment Agency of the CR for extension of your employment permit, if you are not one of those foreign nationals who continue to be obliged to have, i.e. for whom an employee card operates in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card).

You can file an application for extension of a long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment in the form of an employee card no sooner than 90 days and no later than 14 days before expiration of the period of validity of your long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment.

If you are not a foreign national who continues to be obliged to have an employment permit, i.e. for whom an employee card operates in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card), but in spite of that a regional branch of the Employment Agency of the CR issued an employment permit to you because you applied for it or for its extension before the amendment to the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals became effective, this employment permit remains valid and you can apply for extension of your long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment in the form of an employee card in what is referred to as the non-dual mode (see the section Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode of an Employee Card).

Holders of Green Cards

As of the day of introduction of employee cards in the CR, a valid Green Card will automatically begin to be regarded as an employee card and will remain valid until the date stated on the given card.

 Česky

Visa for the Purpose of Collecting a Residence Permit - D/VR

After approval of an application for an employee card filed with an embassy of the CR, you need a visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of collecting an employee card (D/VR) for entering the CR.

Before a long-term visa for the purpose of collecting an employee card (D/VR) is issued, the foreign national is required to submit a travel medical insurance document and, upon request, proof of payment of the insurance premium. The foreign national submits this document to an embassy and the document is only required to confirm insurance for the period from the day of entry into the territory to the time when the foreign national is covered by the public health insurance according to the Public Medical Insurance Act – i.e. from the date, on which the visa was issued, to the commencement of the employment (as stated in the submitted documents).

For employees referred to as “posted employees” who have free access to the labour market, travel medical insurance is required for the entire duration of their stay because these employees will not become participants of the public medical insurance.

This visa is issued ex officio in the shortest possible time.

The visa is issued with validity for 6 months but for a stay with the maximum duration of 60 days, with this period starting from the day of entry into the territory of the CR. After arriving to the territory of the CR, it is necessary to report to an office of the MoI CR for the subsequent operations.

 Česky

Cancellation and cessation of an Employee Card

The reasons for cancelling an employee card are also stated here.

The MoI CR will make a decision to cancel an employee card, if:

1. its holder has been convicted of perpetration of an intentional crime,

2. the employee card does not serve the purpose for which it was issued,

3. its holder applies for cancellation of his or her employee card,

4. the foreign national’s professional qualifications were not recognised by the relevant recognition authority,

also if:

1. the foreign national provided untrue information in the application for the employee card or submitted forged or altered documents attached to the application or submitted documents containing information important for examination of the application which is untrue,

2. the foreign national ceased to comply with any of the conditions for issue of an employee card,

3. during a residence check, the Police establishes that the foreign national does not have a valid travel document or the foreign national presents a forged or altered travel document and

   • the foreign national fails to present a certificate confirming that he or she applied for a new travel document within a deadline set by the Police, or

   • although there the foreign national requires a new foreign passport or travel identity card, he/she has failed to apply for such a travel document,

4. the foreign national’s travel document has been declared invalid or stolen by the authority of the country that issued the travel document, and the foreign national has failed to present the certificate referred to in clause c),

5. the foreign national failed to meet the obligation to file an application for a long-term residence permit on behalf of a foreign national born in the territory of the CR within a deadline of 60 days from the day of his or her birth,

6. some other state of the European Union or signatory state applying a joint procedure in the matter of expulsion decided to expel the foreign national from its territory because the foreign national was sentenced to a prison sentence of at least 1 year or because it had reasonable suspicion that the foreign national has perpetrated a serious crime or is preparing such a crime in the territory of one of the states of the European Union or in one of the signatory states applying a joint procedure in the matter of expulsion, and also as a result of violation by the foreign national of the legal regulations governing the entry and stay of foreign national in its territory , or

7. during a residence check, the foreign national has failed to present a.travel medical insurance document, which would meet the applicable conditions, and has failed to so even within a deadline set by the Police;

provided that the consequences of this decision are adequate to the reason for cancelling the employee card. When considering such adequacy, the Ministry will take into account particularly the impact of this decision on the foreign national’s private and family life.

In a decision to cancel an employee card, the Ministry will set a deadline for leaving the territory of the CR and will issue a departure order to the foreign national; the foreign national is obliged to leave the territory of the CR within the set deadline.
 

Cessation of the validity of the employee card

If you are holder of an employee card issued under the provision of § 42g par. 2 or par. 3 of the Act on Residence of Foreign Nationals to whom labour-law relationship ended or to whom consent was granted to this work, foreign national can find new work in term of 60 days after end of this labour-law relationship and this fact must be notified to the Ministry of the Interior by foreign national. If this condition is not fulfilled up to 60 days, validity of an employee card will be terminated. Keep in mind that all legal conditions for change of employment or employer must be fulfilled.

Similarly, if the holder of the employee card applies for its prolongation, and during the proceeding labor-law relationship ends (so called "fiction"), employee card terminates after 60 days from the end of employment. This does not apply, if legal conditions are fulfilled and if you notify change of employer or change of employment in 60 days from the end of your employment.

In case of the cessation of the employee card or its "fiction", the foreign national is obliged to leave the territory of the Czech Republic. For that purpose MoI will issue the foreign national departure order.

 Česky

Options concerning the temporary assignment of a holder of an employee card by a job agency to a different employer (user) to perform work

Act No. 206/2017 Coll., amending Act No. 435/2004 Coll., on Employment, as amended, and other related Acts, removed the prohibition of temporary assignment of holders of employee cards by a job agency to perform work for a user with effect as of July 29th, 2017.

Employee card can be issued or prolonged, if employer of foreign national is job agency which temporarily provides work of foreign national to user. But it is not possible that foreign national (employee card holder) changes the employer or works on next position at the other employer and this future employer is job agency. It does not matter, if it is employee allocated to work to user or if it is prime employee of job agency.

If foreign national works at the job agency, he/she can change job position (place of work, kind of work) or he/she can be employed to the next job position at the same job agency.

Attention should be also paid to the Government Regulation No 64/2009 Coll. setting out the occupations the job agency cannot temporarily assign, according to later regulations. In accordance with this § 64 of the Emloyment Act the Regulation provides that the job agency allowed to assign temporarily a foreign national only when the job requires full secondary education. This does not apply only in the case of occupations explicitly stated by the Regulation.

Employees of job agency, which are allocated to work to user, are obliged to submit extra document to their application. In this document there must be their name, surname, nationality, birthdate and birthplace, place of residence, kind of work, place of work at the user and name of the employer and employer´s registered office.

You can find form of this document here.

 Česky

Quotas for acceptance of applications for staff cards at embassies & Programmes approved by the government to achieve economic benefits for the country

Quota numbers are being introduced for applications for staff cards at selected embassies of the Czech Republic from September 1^st, 2019. Their amount is set by Government Decree No. 321/2021 which amends Government Decree No. 220/2019 on the maximum number of applications for a visa for a stay of more than 90 days for business purposes, applications for a long-term residence permit for investment purposes, and applications for an employee card that can be submitted at the embassy. Information on the actual use of specific quotas is published directly on the websites of the respective embassies.

Within these quotas, the maximum number of applications that may be submitted by participants in the Programmes approved by the Government for the purpose of achieving economic benefit for the Czech Republic is set:

• HIGHLY QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE PROGRAMME (pdf, 236 kB)
• QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE PROGRAMME (pdf, 178 kB)
• KEY AND SCIENTIFIC STAFF PROGRAMME (pdf, 200 kB)
   

The programmes provide participants with various benefits that other employee card applicants do not have:

In addition to these Programmes, there is an option for workers in the agriculture, food and forestry sector from Ukraine to take advantage of the Extraordinary Work Visa Programme. Both the applicant for this visa and their employer must be participants in a government-approved migration program under the Ministry of Agriculture.