The Czech Parliament approved the tightening of the law on the stay of foreigners
Thus, it is proposed to deprive a foreigner of documents for long-term or permanent residence (temporary and permanent residence permits) if they commit three criminal offenses. Moreover, their severity and the punishment imposed by the court will not be taken into account. Today this limit is four offenses.
In addition, according to the current law, a foreigner may lose their permanent residence permit if they commit one serious criminal offense punishable by more than 3 years of actual imprisonment. The new law retains this condition.
A migrant deprived of a temporary or permanent residence permit will be able to challenge this decision in court. Moreover, the deadline for considering an appeal will be a maximum of 90 days. The same amount of time is proposed for the Supreme Administrative Court to consider cassation complaints. That is, the entire process will take a maximum of 6 months. Today, deadlines in this regard are not established, so the procedure for deporting a migrant criminal can take years.
In addition, the bill obliges foreigners from third countries (not members of the European Union) to undergo an integration course, which is currently voluntary. This must be done within one year of receiving permission for long-term (dlouhodobý pobyt – temporary residence permit) or permanent residence (trvalý pobyt – permanent residence permit). Violators are proposed to be fined 10,000 crowns.
The main goal of the educational program is to teach newcomers the basics of the Czech language, inform them about the customs and culture of the country, provide information about the rights and obligations of migrants, as well as the activities of various departments and integration centers. In this way, the ministry wants to minimize the risk of the formation of isolated national groups.
"If a foreigner wants to live and work in the Czech Republic, they must know how things work here and understand what we expect from them. They must adapt to us, not we to them. A foreigner is obliged to know the Czech language at a certain level and respect social norms," said Ondřej Benešík, chairman of the parliamentary committee for European affairs, earlier.
Persons under 15 and over 61 years of age; employees of international companies sent to the Czech Republic on a business trip on a special visa (Karta vnitropodnikového zaměstnance); persons who have been granted international protection; holders of an investor's temporary residence permit; holders of a temporary residence permit issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic; and persons who have already completed an integration course will be exempt from the integration course.
The courses will be held at Centers for the Integration of Foreigners (Centra na podporu integrace cizinců). By 2020, they should appear in all fourteen regions of the republic. The government will finance their work.
The developed document gives the government the authority to promptly regulate economic migration by setting quotas for issuing visas to entrepreneurs and work cards for representatives of certain specialties. This will allow priority to be given to foreigners in professions that are in acute need by Czech employers. The quotas will not affect migrants who are already in the Czech Republic on other grounds but wish to change their purpose of stay to "employment."
"In practice, quotas will be applied mainly for labor migration, but if necessary, they can also be introduced for foreigners wishing to conduct business activities in the Czech Republic," the document says.
Other important innovations:
• Students and scientists (already in the Czech Republic) after completing their studies or scientific research will be able to obtain a long-term residence permit for the purpose of finding work or starting a business. Its validity period will be 9 months.
• A new type of work visa is introduced. It will be inextricably linked to an employment contract and issued for 1 year without the possibility of extension or change of purpose of stay.
• Migrants arriving on a work visa will be registered only if there is confirmation from the employer of actual employment.
As Vinegret.cz notes, for the bill to come into force, it must now be approved by the Senate and the President of the Czech Republic.