Czech business demands speeding up the process of processing documents necessary for obtaining work permits
As Radio Prague notes, recently the Czech Ministry of Labor has been very interested in attracting nurses from Ukraine, who could also "patch up" the shortage of qualified caregivers in nursing homes and other social service institutions. The labor authority offers an operational action plan to address the shortage of labor resources in this area.
Currently, approximately 374,000 foreigners work in the Czech Republic, 70,000 of whom came specifically from Ukraine. According to current information from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Czech Republic, the total demand for labor resources in the country is nearly 270,000 vacancies.
Regarding the structure of demand, experts note a high number of vacancies for "caregiver" in the social services sector. The Czech labor market, like a number of other countries, is noticeably short of seamstresses and drivers. The latter, by the way, the Association of Transport Companies of the Czech Republic and Moravia (SAČM) proposes to seek, among others, among persons who have served a prison sentence (also as part of their resocialization).
As reported by representatives of some domestic transport companies engaged in passenger transportation, cooperation with 40% of drivers is quite problem-free, with 30% it involves some difficulties. The remaining approximately 30% are characterized by them as "tourists," as they periodically change locations and mostly lack sufficient qualifications.
Why doesn't the Czech Republic open its doors even wider to workers from Ukraine, if Ukrainians are interested in working for its benefit? Such questions are increasingly heard in the Czech Republic itself. The problem lies in the delays associated with processing work permits for foreign citizens. In some cases, obtaining a permit before an employer can actually add new staff to their workforce can drag on for up to six months in practice.
This is confirmed by the director of the human resources department of the Czech Confederation of Industry and Transport, Jitka Hejduková: "The key problem here is the length of the entire process. From the moment a Czech employer selects suitable employees in Ukraine to their arrival in the Czech Republic, about six months pass. And six months in the current situation of labor shortage in the country is indeed a long period for our companies and enterprises."
How does the Ministry of Labor intend to resolve the current situation, primarily with the replenishment of junior and mid-level medical staff?
"If employees stay in the Czech Republic for a longer period, we will strive to provide them with a short-term visa in a shortened time. At the same time, during the period when Ukrainians are already employed here, we plan to arrange their stay on the basis of a long-term visa for two years," informed Czech Radio about the labor authority's plans for an operational solution to the shortage of specialized personnel, its head Jaroslava Němcová.
Short-term visas are issued for up to 90 days. The Czech Republic also intends to increase the number of diplomatic mission staff in Kyiv and Lviv to speed up the processing of documents necessary for obtaining work permits.
Employers, for example, propose to simplify the procedure for issuing permits by abandoning the requirement to post vacancies in the Czech database. They are currently obliged to do so by the relevant law of the Czech Republic.
"The legislation stipulates that open vacancies must be registered in the employment register for 30 days. Therefore, in our opinion, the exclusion of this requirement, which concerns the procedure for informing applicants from among Czechs themselves on the Czech labor market, along with the adoption of other measures, could also help speed up the process of hiring foreigners," says Jitka Hejduková.