Implementation of the Pilot Project “Active Selection of Qualified Foreign Workers” in Numbers
IOM, Marie Wichterlova (15.března 2005).
The pilot project of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is to be entered by another 21 participants
Press release Date: 3rd January 2005
On 3rd January 2005, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MLSA) selected another 21 participants of the pilot project “Active selection of qualified foreign workforce”. The demanding selection procedure – the eighth one so far – has “produced” nine citizens of Belarus, three citizens of Moldova, two Bulgarians, one citizen of Kazakhstan, and six graduates from Czech universities coming from Belarus, Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, and Jordan.
The number of candidates selected by the MLSA up to present day is 241 (129 men, and 112 women). Out of the overall amount of the so far accepted participants, 112 are university graduates. 161 experts come from Bulgaria, 29 from Kazakhstan, 27 from Belarus, 10 from Moldova, and 5 from Croatia. Among the successful candidates, there are nine foreign graduates from Czech universities.
The project participants represent the following areas of professions: technical occupations – 59, sphere of management – 19, information technologies – 18, health care – 17, science – 13, artistic professions – 12, administration – 12. One participant is a lawyer, and the rest belong to the category “various professions”.
Most of the accepted candidates have already spent some time living and working in the Czech Republic. There are only four persons who have submitted the application form abroad. The reason was not little interest in the project but the fact that it is extraordinarily difficult to find employment in the Czech Republic.
For a candidate to be included in the selection procedure, he or she must conform to the following basic conditions: citizenship in one the target countries, successfully concluded secondary vocational education (at least), a work permit issued by the relevant local labour office, and a valid visa for over 90 days for the purpose of employment or a long-term residence permit issued for the same purpose. Also, everybody who wants to be included in the selection procedure must prove previous professional experience; fresh graduates from Czech universities are an exception.
The Czech Republic does not provide employment or accommodation for persons interested in participation in the project, nor does it cover their travel expenses relating to their journey to the Czech Republic. However, entering into the project will enable them to apply, along with their family members, for permanent residence in the Czech Republic after two and a half years (according to current legal provisions, this is only possible after ten years of uninterrupted residence). If the project participants lose their job and it is not their fault, they are protected by a thirty-day protection period, during which they will not lose their visa and their stay in the Czech Republic is not interrupted. Thus, they can look for another job without complications.
In the second project year, that is from 1st July 2004 to 30th June 2005, the project is open to the maximum of 700 candidates. 300 of them can enter the project from the territory of the Czech Republic, the rest from abroad.
The pilot project was started by the MLSA on 28th July 2003 on the territory of the Czech Republic, and on 1st September 2003 in the first target countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, and Kazakhstan. Since 1st October 2004, also citizens of Belarus and Moldova may apply to the project. From the same date and from the academic year 2003-2004, also foreign graduates from Czech universities can enter the project, irrespective of their country of origin. There is an exception excluding those who are studying in the Czech Republic within the framework of humanitarian aid.
It is the aim of the project to bring foreign experts to the Czech Republic along with their families. Citizens of the target countries can obtain permanent residence in the Czech Republic after the shortened period of two and a half years.
Since 4th October 2004, a new web-site www.imigracecz.org has been working which contains and internet application www.praceprocizince.cz aimed to match the supply of qualified foreign professionals from the target countries and the demand of Czech employers concerning vacancies for which they cannot find suitable workers from the Czech Republic and other EU member states. The objective is to help candidates from the target countries find employment in the Czech Republic.
Apart from employers, also labour offices can consult the web-site to look for suitable candidates to fill vacancies for which they cannot find suitable workers from the Czech Republic and other EU member states. All services are provided free of charge.
The so far obtained experience with the internet application shows that the interest of foreign experts to work in the Czech Republic severely exceeds the actual offer of vacancies for foreigners from third countries. So, the MLSA has launched an extensive information campaign in the Czech Republic and in the target countries which aims to introduce the participating parties with the way the internet application functions and with the opportunities it offers. In the Czech Republic, the campaign is primarily focused on employers, entrepreneurs, and other subjects employing foreign workers.
The selected participants are at present going through a so-called probation period. Two and a half years after their entering the project, the MLSA will decide whether they have fulfilled its conditions – that is whether they have managed to integrate in Czech society – and it will either recommend the Alien and Border Police of the Czech Republic to issue a permanent residence permit for them or not.
Two persons have already obtained a permanent residence permit before the probation period expired so that their participation in the project is over. The MLSA excluded four participants of the project during the probation period, because they ceased to meet one of the basic conditions, that is they lost their employment or they did not have the necessary visa.
Katerina Berankova, press agent of the MLSA