COVID-19 Webcast: Impact on employment of foreigners and others

With regards to the current situation, the Czech Republic is implementing decisive action to respond to this emerging public health threat. Many questions have been raised considering impact on employment of foreigners (eg. permits issuance, impact of travel ban etc). We are inviting you to our webinars where we will summarize the main points and share the latest information with you.

Watch recorded webcast

IMMIGRATION MEASURES:

• No requests for short-term visa applications, temporary and permanent residence applications at the embassies of the Czech Republic; this does not apply to persons whose stay is in the interest of the Czech Republic;
• Stopped all proceedings in the case of short-term visa applications and residence permits over 90 days; this does not apply to persons whose stay is in the interest of the Czech Republic;
• Activities at offices of the Ministry of Interior dealing with foreigners’ residence permits are limited;
• Submissions requiring personal participation by law must be dealt with only after the end of the state of emergency, all deadlines are automatically extended;
• All arranged appointments apart from registration upon arrival, acquisition of biometric data, issue of residence permits, issuing of the bridging label (i.e. confirmation of legality of your stay) are cancelled;
• Offices of Ministry of Interior at Přerov, Letná, Kladno and Benešov will be closed until further notice for  technical reasons;
• The full description of limited activities is attached.

Please check the availability of the local office before your planned visit!

TRAVEL BANS

• The ban to entry into the country applies to all foreigners.
• Foreigners with permit residence (i.e. Employee card, Blue card, ICT card, Long term residency permit, Long term visa, Temporary residency permit for third country family members of EU citizens, Certificate of Temporary residency for EU citizens, Permanent residency) are excluded from this measure.
• Short term (Schengen) visa and non-visa stay is not a type of residence permit and those foreigners are not allowed to enter the country.

Further, the ban to travel from the Czech Republic will apply to citizens of the Czech Republic and persons with permanent or temporary residence over 90 days.

The exceptions to travel restrictions can be found here

The risk areas are: China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Spain, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Holland, Belgium, Great Britain, Denmark and France and can be found here.

QUARANTINE

The Czech Republic’s government has decided to impose a two-week quarantine in the country until 6 am local time on March 24, 2020.

The government prohibits the free movement of persons though the Czech Republic with the exceptions of:

• travel to/from employment;
• the routes necessary to provide basic life needs;
• the routes strictly necessary to meet the needs and services of another person (relatives and persons close friends, neighbors, etc.);
• necessary health stay in nature or a park;

and also recommendations employers:

• engage in the maximum possible degree of distance work if employees can carry it out at their place of residence;
• to promote leave and paid leave for employees and similar instruments referred to in the collective agreement;
• limit the performance of works that are not relevant for the maintenance of the employer’s activities.

The full description of government regulation about quarantine can be found here (in the Czech language only).

How to effectively face COVID-19? Reduce the impact on your business

Our special website contains an overview of key steps that need to be taken in order to mitigate impacts of the pandemic on the operation of your organisation. It also contains individual advisory with contact details of our professionals who will help you react to specific measures in accordance with the needs of your business. We update the website regularly and add more information.

Up-to date information on dreport.cz
We record additional up-to-date information on our blog in a section dedicated to the coronavirus.