As of 1 July 2024, an amendment to Act No. 435/2004 Coll. on Employment (hereinafter the “Amendment”) will enter into force, which brings, among other things, significant changes in the area of employment of foreigners. These changes include not only a modification of obligations for employers, but above all an extension or significant facilitation of access of foreigners from certain third countries to the Czech labour market.

Even after the amendment, employers remain obliged to inform the Labour Office about the employment or termination of employment of a foreigner. Under the amendment, however, it will be possible to fulfil this obligation exclusively digitally. This information obligation can thus be fulfilled in one of three ways:

• by filling in the online form;
• via the data box;
• via the interface of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

The aim of the amendment is to simplify and streamline communication between the authorities and employers.

Another change introduced by the amendment aims to speed up the process of recruiting foreigners in a situation, where there is a labour shortage on the domestic labour market. Currently, an employer wishing to employ a foreigner with an employee card must first notify the Labour Office of the vacancy. The job must then pass a “labour market test”, where the job must remain vacant for 30 days before it can be filled by the employee card holder. However, from this July it will be possible to skip this test in some cases, if the labour market situation allows it.

The amendment also expands the category of persons with free access to the labour market. The government will now determine by regulation the countries, the citizens of which will have free access to the Czech labour market without the need to obtain a work permit, employee card, intra-corporate transfer card or blue card. The countries, the citizens of which citizens will have free access, so far include the following 9 countries: Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, USA and Israel.

However, it should be noted that the above exception to the requirement to obtain a work permit is a matter of employment law and does not apply to residence permits. Thus, foreigners from the aforementioned third countries will still need a residence permit pursuant to Act No. 326/1999 Coll., on the Residence of Foreigners in the Czech Republic.