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Employee Card

  • Employee Card: Basic Information
  • Submitting an Application for an Employee Card
  • Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode Employee Card
  • 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
  • Course of the Proceedings on Application for an Employee Card
  • Unreliable employer
  • Extension of the Validity of an Employee Card
  • Change of Employer or Job or Taking up Employment in an Additional Job or with an Additional Employer
  • 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
  • Visa for the Purpose of Collecting a Residence Permit - D/VR
  • Cancellation and cessation of an Employee Card
  • Options concerning the temporary assignment of a holder of an employee card by a job agency to a different employer (user) to perform work
  • Quotas for acceptance of applications for staff cards at embassies & Programmes approved by the government to achieve economic benefits for the country

Employee Card: Basic Information

 Česky

Employee Card: Basic Information

Information about Employee card can be found on the Official Portal for Foreigners.  

Submitting an Application for an Employee Card

 Česky

Submitting an Application for an Employee Card

Information about Submitting an Application for an Employee Card in the Territory of the Czech Republic can be found on the Official Portal for Foreigners on this link, information about Submitting an Application for an Employee Card outside the Territory of the Czech republic can be found on the Official Portal for Foreigners on this link.

  

Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode Employee Card

 Česky

Special Cases / Non-Dual Mode Employee Card

Information about Free Acces to the Labour Market can be foundon the Official Portal for Foreigners on this link, Information about the Proof of Free Acces to the Labour Market can be found on this link.

  

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

 Česky

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.

Course of the Proceedings on Application for an Employee Card

 Česky

Course of the Proceedings on Application for an Employee Card

Course pof the Proceedings on Aplication for an Employee Card can be found on the Official Portal for Freigners on this link and on this link, more Information about the Administrative Proceedings can be found on this link.

  

Unreliable employer

 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.

  

Extension of the Validity of an Employee Card

 Česky

Extension of the Validity of an Employee Card

More Information about ean Extension of the Validity of an Employee card can be found on the Official Portal for Foreigners.

  

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

 Česky

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

Information about Change of Employer or Job or Taking up Employment in an Additional Job or with an Additional Employer  can be found on the Official Portal for Foreigners.

  

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

 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.

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

 Česky

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

Information about Visa for a Stay Longer than 90 Days for the Purpose of Collection of a Residence Permit (D/VR) can be found on the Official Portal for Foreigners.

  

Cancellation and cessation of an Employee Card

 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.

  

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

 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.

  

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

 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 1st, 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:

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

- HIGHLY QUALIFIED
EMPLOYEE PROGRAMME
QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE
PROGRAMME
KEY AND SCIENTIFIC
STAFF PROGRAMME
Guaranteed possibility
to apply at the embassy
Yes Yes Yes
Applying together
with immediate
family members
Yes No Yes
Processing of the application
within 30 days
No No Yes
Written confirmation replacing:
- proof of accommodation Yes No Yes
- employment contract Yes No Yes
- proof of professional competence No No Yes
Possibility of change of Employer After 6 months After 6 months No restrictions
Possibility to apply
in the Czech Republic
No No No

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.

  

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