The Czech government has recently decided to include Israel on the list of countries whose citizens shall not require a work permit for employment in the country (effective from 1st of July 2024).
While this will make potential relocation to Czech Republic slightly faster and easier (i.e. it is no longer required for the future employer to officially advertise the job position for Czech citizens first), it is important to note that this does NOT change the fact that Israeli citizens who wish to live and work here still need a valid residency permit for their continuous legal stay.
It is crucial to understand that both the bilateral CZ-ISR treaty and the Schengen visa-free access which allow Israelis to stay in the country for 90 days (or more if combined properly) are meant strictly for a non-gainful/economically inactive stay, this prohibits employment or business during visa-free stay. Therefore, even though Israelis will obtain free access to the Czech labor market they still need a residency permit to reside here legally while being employed.
To reiterate, Israelis who wish to stay in the country long-term (over 90 days) and work here can be employed without limitation, however they still need to apply for a “non-dual employee card” which serves as a residency permit allowing them to stay here (or alternatively for other type of residency/long-term visa such as family-reunification, studies, business etc., provided that will be their main purpose of stay) and may not actually start working until they receive a long-term residency permit or visa, even if they are here legally based on visa-free stay.
The main benefit would be for Israelis who are already staying in the Czech Republic based on an employee card and would like to change the employer – in this particular case, the process becomes much more efficient (change of employer can be done immediately with a simple notice to the Ministry filed no later than within 3 days after the change occurs; as opposed to the current requirement to advertise the job position, notify the Ministry at least 30 days in advance and providing multiple documents, and then awaiting confirmation from the Ministry until they may proceed with the change of employer).
For further inquiries regarding immigration and employment matters, feel free to contact our law firm at [email protected]