There is a growing need nowadays to employ not only citizens of the Czech Republic, but also employees from the European Union or from third countries. Employing these employees brings higher demands on administration and the necessary operations, however. We will try to summarize the basic duties and conditions when employing citizens of other countries, so that, after reading this article, you would have a good idea of what employment of citizens of other countries entails.

A considerable task for the employer consists in the records of employed foreigners, which contain various identification data including data on employment. The employer is obliged to retain copies of documents proving that the stay of the foreigner on the territory of the Czech Republic was authorised for a period of 3 years after the termination of employment.

In case you are dealing with employment of foreigners, we will be happy to help you resolve your specific situation.

Employment in general is governed in the Czech Republic by the following two main laws - the Labour Code (act no. 262/2006) and the employment act (act no. 435/2004 Sb.). The governing body in the matter of employment and thus also in employment of foreigners is the ministry of labour and social affairs (hereinafter the “MoLSA”).

From the perspective of the duties, which the legislation sets for employers when employing citizens of other countries, we can divide employees into two main groups:

• Citizens of the EU/EEA, Switzerland and their family members – according to the employment act, these citizens are not considered foreigners and they have the same legal status as the citizens of the Czech Republic.

• Foreigners – citizens of other countries outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland and their family members, or persons without citizenship. A special category are the refugees coming from the so-called third countries, who can have various statuses.

CITIZENS OF EU/EEA, SWITZERLAND AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS

Employees belonging to this first category have the same legal status as the citizens of the Czech Republic according to the employment act. For the purposes of employment, such a citizen thus needs no employment permit or residence permit.

An exception are the family members, who are not themselves citizens of the EU/EEA or Switzerland. Such family members must request a temporary residence permit in the form of the residence card of a family member of a citizen of the European Union.

FOREIGNERS

Unlike the previous group, foreigners need a permit to be employed. This permit can have the following forms:

• a valid employment permit from the respective regional branch of the Labour Office and a valid residence permit.
• an Employee Card
• a Blue Card
• an Intra-Company Employee Transfer Card

An Employee Card is a long-term residence permit for the purposes of exercising their profession on the territory of the Czech Republic, thus uniting both permits into one (a work and residence permit). The foreigner requests the issuing of such a card from a Czech representation abroad (i.e. embassy). In order for the card to be issued, it is necessary to have entered in a labour contract (based on an employment contract, agreements to perform work or even an agreement of intent). The negotiated remuneration of the employee must not be lower than the minimum wage rate and the weekly working hours must not be shorter than 15 hours. It is also necessary to provide for example a valid travel document, two current photographs, documents proving the qualification required for the selected job position, proof of arrangement of accommodation during the stay on the territory of the Czech Republic etc.

The Employee Card is issued for the period set in the employment contract, but for a maximum of 2 years.

The Blue Card is also a long-term residence permit for the purposes of exercising their profession on the territory of the Czech Republic, but it is for exercising professions requiring higher qualification. For the issuing of a Blue Card, completed university education or post-secondary vocational education, if the study lasted for a minimum of three years. The Blue Card is issued especially for specific job vacancies, for which there is high demand in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is trying to simplify the process of issuing the Blue Card. Despite this, the same documents are required as in the case of the Employee Card.

For the employer, an employee working on the basis of the Blue Card must not have wage lower than 1.5 times the average gross wage in the Czech Republic.

The current article on Blue Card applications, both in the Czech Republic and in Germany, can be found here.

The Intra-Company Employee Transfer Card is a newly established type of authorisation effective as of August 15, 2017. It is a dual permit same as in the case of the Employee Card or the Blue Card, that is both a permit for residence on the territory of the Czech Republic and for exercising one's profession, in the post of a manager, specialist or an employed intern. All of these posts are defined in act no. 326/1999 on the residence of foreigners on the territory of the Czech Republic. Intra-company transfer is defined directly by the ministry of interior, which is also the issuer of these cards, in the following way: “To put its simply, intra-company transfer is a temporary transfer of an employee within a supranational company, from a functional part of the supranational company in a country, which is not a member of the European Union, to its functional part, which is located in the Czech Republic.”

A special case is the situation, where a foreigner had originally been transferred within a company from the third country to another EU member state, where he obtained a residence permit for an employee transferred within a company and was subsequently transferred to the Czech Republic. Such an employee must have an Intra-Company Employee Transfer Card of another EU member state.

All of the above-mentioned cards have the form of a plastic card with biometric elements.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE EMPLOYER?

For the employer, employing citizens of other countries means, more or less, extra work and administration. In case of employing citizens of the EU/EEA and Switzerland, though, it is not a significant item, though. On the day of commencement of work at the latest, the employer must announce the commencement of work of such an employee to the respective labour office, using the form intended for this purpose, which is available from the integrated portal of the MoLSA - Employment. The employer is obliged to report changes and termination of employment, within 10 days.

The situation is more complicated in case of employing foreigners (see the definition of the term at the beginning of the article). The employer must first report the job vacancy at the respective regional branch of the Labour Office. The job vacancy must then be published in the central register of job vacancies, for a period of 30 days at minimum. An exception relation to a request for issuing the Intra-Company Employee Transfer Card. In such a case, the job vacancy does not need to be reported.

An employer may employ a foreigner only in case the foreigner has a valid employment permit and residence permit or an Employee Card, a Blue Card or and Intra-Company Employee Transfer Card . At the same time, a written contract of employment must be made, with all essentials. The work and wage conditions must be comparable to other employees in the same job position, usual for a citizen of the Czech Republic. There are also the requirements on the minimum length of the working hours and the minimum remuneration in case of the holders of the individual cards.

The notification duty of the employer is comparable to the requirements in case of employing citizens of the EU. The employer must also inform the labour office about the commencement, changes and termination of employment. The employer is obliged to also announce, if the employee does not commence work in the agreed job.

In the article, we have outlined the basic moves when employing citizens of other countries, especially from the perspective of the administrative operations and duties of the employer. Other questions arise in connection with the employment of these employees, though, relating mainly to taxation and the option of using tax deductions and credits. A considerable question, too, is the pertinence to the system of social and health insurance. We will discuss this issue in one of our following articles.