The House of Representatives passed a law on the residence of foreigners, which introduces several changes in the employment of foreigners from outside the EU. Its main benefit for the Czech economy and the business services is to facilitate and speed up the employment of highly qualified workers from outside the EU.
“Over the next two years, the corporate services sector is expected to grow by 20,000 qualified employees. Almost half of them, however, will have to come from abroad, often from outside the European Union, due to very low unemployment in the Czech Republic. The changes brought about by the newly approved act will greatly assist us in this regard by facilitating and speeding up the employment of talent from outside the EU and allowing for planned expansion, ”says Jonathan Appleton, Director of ABSL, an association of business service centres in the Czech market.
In particular, two newly planned government programs will apply to them: Key and Scientific Staff and Highly Qualified Employee. The law will also simplify the notification of changes to the address of foreign workers, the possibility of shortening the 10-day work trial period, and new rules for changing employers for employee cardholders.
The law will also simplify the notification of changes to the address of foreign workers, the possibility of shortening the 10-day work test, and new rules for changing employers for employee card holders.
Over the last year, in cooperation with its partners, CEC Government Relations and Deloitte, ABSL has intensively highlighted the problems that complicate the employment of highly skilled workers from outside the EU. They have presented several proposals that would simplify the process and demonstrate the benefits for the Czech economy. The results are welcome.
“The problem with the current system was that it could not sufficiently distinguish between workers according to their qualifications. If the Czech Republic is to manage the transition to a high-value-added economy, it will need to attract educated workers from all over the world. Unfortunately, today, the manual workers who receive a minimum wage, and thus do not contribute significantly to the state treasury are in a single queue for visas together with qualified professionals. That has now changed. The Czech Republic will now begin to give priority to those who bring added value to companies and the Czech state, ” says Václav Nekvapil from CEC Government Relations.
