Employee Card
Where to apply
You must file an application for an employee card in person at the embassy of the Czech Republic with the appropriate territorial jurisdiction. You are only entitled to file 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 file 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 file 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 a long-term residence permit for some other purpose. In that case, you may file an application until the very end of validity of such residence permit.
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.
With effect from 1 September 2019, the Government of the Czech Republic decided to introduce quotas for accepting applications for employee cards in order to secure labour force for the Czech labour market and the related concept of targeted economic migration (Government Regulation No. 220/2019 Coll. of 26 August 2019). The main objective of the concept of targeted economic migration is to strengthen the inflow of skilled labour from selected countries to the Czech Republic. For the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Pretoria, an annual quota of 30 applications for employee cards. Quotas cannot exceed, the Embassy may not accept more applications than stipulated by government decree. Quotas will be evenly distributed over 12 months. The method of ordering deadlines for applications will be regularly published in the news on this website.
Required documents
You must attach the following to an application for an employee card:
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2 photographs showing the current appearance of the foreign national,
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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,
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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
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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,
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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.),
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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,
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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).
Please bring also one set of complete documentation in copy.
Originals or else officially authenticated copies of all of the attached documents must be submitted. 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 if the foreign national will be covered by public health insurance upon commencement of his or her employment.
If you have any questions you can contact us via email (consulate_pretoria@mzv.cz). In case of emergency you call visa department (+27 12 431 23 80).
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