The increased number of work permits for Mongolian and Filipino workers will be compensated by fewer issued in Ukraine. Photo credit: Freepik.
Prague, June 3 (CTK) – The Czech government is planning to again change the quotas for applications to work in the Czech Republic, to offer jobs to more low- and medium-skilled applicants at the embassies in Manila and Ulaanbaatar, rather than Ukraine, based on a proposal from the Interior Ministry.
In the Philippines, it will offer work permits to 3,000 people per year, up from the current 2,500, and in Mongolia it will offer 2,000 permits instead of the current 1,230, according to the proposal to be discussed at a cabinet meeting later this month.
The government does not intend to increase the overall number of migrant workers from third countries, so the quota at the embassy in Lviv, Ukraine, will be simultaneously reduced from the current 38,000 to 33,000.
The ministry’s proposal also includes a plan to allow Skoda Transportation to recruit 300 skilled workers from Indonesia on a one-off basis, primarily welders, electricians and locksmiths for the production of wagons. Jakarta’s permanent quota is set at 130 work permits per year.
The government previously redirected part of the quota intended for employment of Ukrainians to other countries last September.
Quotas to employ skilled foreigners from outside the EU were introduced in September 2019. The maximum number of applications that embassies in each country can accept is set by the government. The cabinet reassesses these quotas periodically.
Employers have repeatedly complained of a shortage of workers and requested more workers from abroad. They also call for the recruitment process to be sped up and simplified.
The draft amendments, which institutions can comment on until the middle of next week, also envisage abolishing the quota for visa applications for travel of more than 90 days for business purposes at the diplomatic missions in Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg in Russia (currently 50 applications per year at each mission), due to the closure of both offices.
