In its session on 6 June 2018, the Czech government approved an amendment to the Act on Residence of Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic, which mainly contains implementation of an EU directive that addresses the conditions of residence of foreigners for the purposes of their studies or scientific research.
In accordance with the amendment, university students and research workers would be allowed to stay in the Czech Republic for another nine months after they finish their studies or research so that they could look for new job opportunities or start their new businesses.
Furthermore, the amendment should also introduce the obligation to complete an integration course or an institute of the so-called extraordinary work visa for the purposes of employment. The integration course comprises of an eight-hour course which introduces the foreigners’ rights and obligations connected with their stay and the basic values, local conditions and dominant customs in the Czech Republic and aims at foreigners coming from non-EU countries and planning to stay in the Czech Republic for a period exceeding one year. The costs of the course should be covered by either the foreigners themselves or their employers.
The extraordinary work visa for the purposes of employment should simplify and accelerate the work migration and their issuing will only be commenced on a temporary basis and based on a government decree which will be issued with respect to the labor market situation. Also, the decree would list source countries, economic sectors and number of granted visas, which are supposed to be distributed for one year and solely for the purposes of work stay.
