General information
What is an Employee Card intended for?
Dual and Non-Dual nature of an Employee Card
How to schedule an appointment with a visa officer?
Requirements for the application
Processing time
Medical Travel Insurance
More information


General information

There is no legal right to be granted an Employee Card.

Employee card replaces the visa for a stay of over 90 days for the purpose of employment, a long-term residence permit for the purpose of employment and a Green Card, which are no longer issued. Employee card is most often issued for the duration of the employer-employee relationship but not for more than 2 years, with an option to repeatedly extend its validity.

For more in-detail information, please see annexed leaflet or visit website of Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.

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What is an Employee Card intended for?

With regard to professional qualifications, an employee card is intended for all types of employment for over 90 days regardless of the level of required professional qualifications .

Therefore, an employee card always relates to the specific job (there can also be more job positions at the same time) for which it was issued or, if applicable, to a job for which the Department for Asylum and Migration Policy of the Ministry of the Interior granted its consent in connection with changing employer or job.

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Dual and Non-Dual nature of an Employee Card

A standard employee card for third country nationals is of a dual nature in the sense that it entitles the foreign national to both reside in the territory of Czechia and be employed, without the foreign national having to make applications in two places, i.e. to apply additionally to the Labour Office of the Czech Republic – a regional branch office or the branch office for the Capital City of Prague – for an employment permit. In such a case you have to present a the job vacancy number registered with the Labour Office of the Czech Republic. The job vacancy (available for employee card holders) must be published in the central register of job vacancies. Subject to the consent of the employer, these vacancies can be published on the Internet Integrated Portal of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs where you can find them.

An employee card also exists in the form of a non-dual document, in which case it is basically only a residence permit, and this applies to a foreign national who is already a holder of an employment permit or has free access to the labor market pursuant to the Employment Act No. 435/2004 Coll. (i.e. he or she comes under the definition in Section 98 of the Employment Act). You can find more about these cases in the section titled Special Cases / Non-Dual Form of an Employee Card).

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How to schedule an appointment with a visa officer?

IMPORTANT: It is the applicant's responsibility to have all the documents ready for the appointment! Therefore, it is recommended to ask for appointment only after making sure the applicant can present all the required documents (as per list below)!

Long-term visa and residence permit applicants need to schedule an appointment in advance using a dedicated scheduling system.

The Embassy currently only has the capacity to accept 3 Employee Card applications per month.

TRANSLATION/INTERPRETATION SERVICES

All the documents emitted by the Embassy will be in Czech language.

The communication language of the Czech Embassy during the visa application appointment is Czech or English. The Embassy does not provide translation nor interpretation services, these must be commercially provided on the expense of the applicant if the applicant does not understand Czech or English or if the Embassy deems that translation services are needed because the applicant's grasp of Czech or English is too low.

The interpreter must:

• - be able to translate the applicant's mother tongue into Czech or English, and
• - be arranged on the applicant's expense, and
• - be present physically at the Embassy with the applicant and present his/her ID, and
• - prove the following qualifications (by presenting corresponding documents):
  • a) The interpreter should be inscribed in the list of court interpreters of the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic
  •  
  • OR
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  • b) meet all of the following requirements (which the interpreter must be able to prove BEFORE the appointment/questioning - please send the documents at least 7 days in advance to our e-mail ):
    • - native language speaker or minimum C1 level (CEFR framework or equivalent) grasp of both interpreted languages (original certificate/diploma required)
    • - minimum 5 years of professional history with interpretation between the interpreted languages (CV required)

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Requirements for the application

All documents must be presented in their original form or as a notarized copy and may not be older than 180 days, except travel document. All documents (except the travel document) must be in the Czech language. Translations into the Czech language must be officially verified.

1. Form "Request for Employee Card"

• - Form must be original, legible and filled out
• - Signagure of the applicant is necessary unless the applicant is younger than 15 years of age in which case the application must be signed by his parent / legal guardian.

2. Fee

• - Visa fees vary depending upon the exchange rate between CZK/EUR and SGD.
• - Visa fees are non-refundable when accepted for submission.

3. Two photographs

• - Two passport size photos have to resemble to the actual appearance and adhere to other requirements: Biometric photo requirements (PDF, 154 KB)

4. Passport and Singaporean ID card

• - You must submit your original passport. Its validity must exceed the expected length of stay by at least 90 days (after the visa expires). Passport must have been issued within the previous 10 years.
• - Passport must be signed
• - The applicant must prove his legal stay in Singapore for at least 2 years before he day of application! This does not apply if you are a citizen of a state listed in Decree of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic n. 429/2010 Coll.

5. Document confirming the purpose of stay

• - 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
• - the document must be in original, signed by both sides and officially translated to the Czech language

6. Work Permit / Job vacancy number

• - If the applicant seeks a dual employee card, they need to present the job vacancy number registered with the Labour Office of the Czech Republic.
• - If the applicant seeks a non-dual employee card, they need to present a work permit or prove that they have free access to the labor market pursuant to the Employment Act No. 435/2004 Coll. (i.e. he or she comes under the definition in Section 98 of the Employment Act).

7. If necessary: documents proving the professional qualifications

if this condition follows from the work permit (as per point 6) or nature of the employment or an international agreement sets such a condition, the applicant needs to present:

• - 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 recognized by the relevant authority of the Czech Republic. The diploma has to be verified by Apostille. The Apostille has to verify specifically the name of the Registrar of the College/ University and all documents have to be officially translated to the Czech language (incl. the Apostille).
• - a document proving the required professional qualifications, if such qualifications are required according to other legal regulations (for example, a fork-lift truck operator license or the appropriate driving license for a tram/bus driver, etc.),
• - 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,

8. Document confirming accommodation

• - an original statement from the owner of an apartment/house stating his/her ability and willingness to provide applicant’s accommodation for the time of stay (signature must be notarized by a Czech notary
  or 
• - in the case of a lease for an apartment/house - the original or a notarized copy of the lease contract
  or
• - in the case of a sublet - the original or a notarized copy of the lease contract and an affidavit signed by the owner confirming the sublet (signature must be notarized by a Czech notary
  or
• - if you are an owner of the real property the original record or the notarized copy from the Real Estate Register is requested

9. Criminal History Record / Certificate of Clearance

• - A document proving applicant's criminal background record issued by the official authority of the country of the applicant's nationality. The record must be appropriately certified (Apostille or super-legalization) along with a verified Czech translation;
• - The applicant must also submit a criminal history record issued by a state in which the applicant was staying IN TOTAL for more than 6 months in the past three years. Such a document must also be submitted with the required Apostille or super-legalization along with a verified Czech translation.
• - Children under the age of 15 are not required to submit the Criminal History Record.

10. Upon request, a medical report stating that the foreign national does not suffer from any serious disease.

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Medical Travel Insurance
There is no need to present a valid medical travel insurance at the moment of application. However, prior to affixing of a visa, you must present a valid travel insurance to the consular officer. More information on our website and on the website of the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic.

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Processing time
The employee card application shall be processed within 60 days from the date the Embassy receives and records the complete application. In exceptional complicated cases, the procedure can take up to 90 days.

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More information

You can find further information regarding employee cards on the website of the Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic.