It is practically impossible to meet the requirements needed to successfully participate in the project without being in the Czech Republic itself. The initial surge of interest in it after learning about the conditions set by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which is implementing the project, quickly evaporated. This is confirmed by employees of Czech consulates in Kazakhstan, Bulgaria, or Croatia (in the first stage, only citizens of these countries can take part in the competition).
In order to have a chance of finding employment in the Czech Republic, the applicant must find an employer themselves and convince them of their value as an indispensable specialist. The employer, in turn, must convince the district labour office that no employee has been found for this position for a long time among Czech citizens (and after 1 May 2004, also among EU citizens). Only then can an employment contract be concluded, which gives hope of obtaining a residence permit, and if the applicant wins the selection competition, of obtaining permanent residence not after ten years, as required by the current aliens law, but after just two and a half years.
• It should be borne in mind that owning real estate is another reason to officially “get a foothold” in the Czech Republic. But since transactions are not formalized in the name of foreign individuals, many are interested in opening and selling companies in the Czech Republic. Today, to open your own company, you don’t even have to go to the Czech Republic – there are plenty of offers to buy a ready-made company in our country as well.
How can a person who does not live in the Czech Republic and does not know the Czech language find out whether he is needed as a specialist in this country? After all, unlike other states, such as Germany, it is impossible for an uninitiated person to find a list of the professions most in demand in the Czech Republic. In Germany itself, when it comes to attracting a specialist from abroad, his citizenship plays no role. There is no priority right for a German citizen to take that position.
Ministry of Labour employees agree that it would be good to have a list of such professions. But, they insist, the project is called “Active Choice” precisely because the applicant himself must be active in the first place. In light of the above, this statement sounds rather strange. It seems that they have already realized this in the Czech Republic itself – suffice it to read press reviews of the first attempt to implement the project.
Ultimately, the entire project turned out to be narrowly targeted: in fact, only a small number of foreigners who have already settled and are working in the Czech Republic can participate in it. Moreover, this does not include entrepreneurs who bear on their own shoulders all the concerns of finding work, paying taxes and insurance. This narrows the scope of the project even further.
Perhaps something will help the Czech Republic solve its demographic problems and make up for the growing shortage of the working-age population. But not the “Active Choice” project in its current version. Every year, 20,000 more people die in the country than are born. It has one of the lowest percentages of permanently resident foreigners in the EU – about two percent. This is 4–5 times less than in Western European countries. Neighboring Germany intends to accept 50,000 migrants annually. There, they have accepted the fact that aging Europe cannot do without foreign labor resources and have created an immigrant integration program that includes, among other things, language courses, and study of local laws, customs, culture, etc.
Immigration must be regulated and controlled by the state; no one objects to this. But when immigration laws in practice turn into a policy of “not letting anyone in,” the process goes underground, under the influence of semi-criminal structures.
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