As Radio Prague notes, the campaign "Czech permanent residence in 2.5 years" somewhat resembles socialist slogans that once called on the Soviet man to strain and fulfill the plan of the next five-year period in a shortened time. Foreigners in the Czech Republic have been given the opportunity to "strain" to obtain a permanent place under the Czech sun since the year before last.
Initially, the pilot project to attract qualified labor to the country applied only to Bulgarians, Croats, and Kazakhs. Since October 1, 2004, Belarusians and Moldovans began to join the ranks of the lucky ones, as well as foreign graduates of Czech universities regardless of nationality. And what about this year? From July 1, Serbia and Montenegro and Canada will join the list of participating countries. And from the beginning of 2006, Ukraine, the largest supplier of labor to the Czech labor market, will also enter the ministry's project.
"This is a very significant event within the project. Ukrainian citizens make up the majority of foreigners working in the Czech Republic and showing interest in our project," says Katerina Berankova, press secretary of the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Although more than half a year remains before Ukraine enters the project, the most impatient holders of Ukrainian passports who are interested in immigration to the Czech Republic are already contacting the ministry for information. "We have already received the first calls," says Vera Ivanovichova, project manager. "Now we are telling people who are interested to prepare all the materials. We do not yet have leaflets and informational materials in Ukrainian. But there is still time." The Canadian model was taken as the basis for the Czech project to attract workers from abroad, she reminds. And she proudly adds that among Central European countries, the Czech Republic was one of the first to tackle the problem of a shortage of highly qualified labor with the help of such a project. Only Great Britain is ahead.
"This is a point-based system," continues Vera Ivanovichova. "Those who wish can enter the project if they score 25 out of a possible maximum of 66 points. Their qualifications, level of education, work experience, previous experience of living in the Czech Republic, language skills, and marital status are assessed, for which you can get up to 10 points. However, the main condition for participation in the project remains unchanged - the presence of a work permit. And this work permit turned out to be the most difficult condition."
There will probably be many Ukrainians wishing to obtain a residence permit in the Czech Republic in an accelerated timeframe. Here is what the project manager said on this matter: "We have a quota for the next project year (from July this year to July next year) - one thousand foreign workers. Three hundred of them may be citizens of Ukraine. Unused quotas of other target countries of the project may also be transferred to Ukraine. Thus, only the best of the Ukrainians will enter the project."
The goal of the project is to attract three thousand qualified foreigners to the Czech Republic annually. "At the moment, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has included 279 foreigners in the project," said Katerina Berankova, "of whom 165 are citizens of Bulgaria, 46 of Belarus, 31 of Kazakhstan, 18 people from Moldova, and 5 from Croatia."