Change of work position or change of employer
An employee card is granted on the basis that you will remain in employment in a specified work position and with a specified employer. Nevertheless, the employee card allows you to change your employer and/or your work position.
Should you do so, you are required to notify the Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic /Ministerstvo vnitra ČR sufficiently in advance, at the latest 30 days prior to the actual change becoming effective. The Ministry of the Interior then has 30 days to evaluate the information you provide in your notification and inform your employer-to-be whether the change is possible. The notification to the Ministry may be done in person, by mail, or, for instance, through your official data box. In all cases, you are required to use the official form of the Ministry of the Interior.
Moreover, the employer is required to report the new work position to the Labor Office /Úřad práce and proceed analogously, as is the case when applying for an employee card.
What documents must you provide?
- Official form, completed, for the authority to process the change of employer or the change of work position. You can find the form HERE.
- Employment contract for the new work position or, if you are changing employers, the employment contract with the new employer (or possibly an agreement on your future employment contract).
- The new employment contract must match the work position (job) reported by the employer-to-be to the Labor Office, one that may be staffed with a foreign national.
- The employment contract must clearly show that the working hours for the new job come to at least 15 hours per week and that the wages are not lower than the legal minimum wage. Nevertheless, if you plan to undertake a second work position with the same or another employer, the requirement for minimum working hours and minimum wages does not apply.
- Technical qualifications, if required for the new work position. The document is a written statement from the employer-to-be. You can find this HERE.
- Document terminating your job with your original employer or the original work position (typically an agreement on termination of employment, termination notice from the employer or the employee, etc.). Alternatively, you can provide a document that your employment still continues (typically a written statement from your current employer).
Things you should know
- The Ministry of the Interior is under no obligation to notify you that your application to change employer or work position has been filed incorrectly. In such a case, the application is regarded as never having been filed.
- You can only start working with the new employer or in the new work position after you and your new employer receive a communication that the conditions for the change have been satisfied. However, at the earliest as of the date shown in the form as the date of the planned change of employer or work position.
- As a result of the statement from the Ministry of the Interior that the conditions have been satisfied, your authorization to work for the original employer (company) or in the original work position is terminated.
- If you apply for a change after your original employment ended, you must file your application at the latest within 60 days of the original employment ending. Failure to do so will mean the validity of your employee card expires by default and it is not possible to apply for a change anymore.
Other restrictions if you intend to change employer
- As a foreign national, you are not allowed to change your employer earlier than 6 months from the issuance of your employee card. This restriction does not apply if it is not in the employee’s power to influence this. For instance, when the employee is made redundant or becomes medically unfit for the work position.
- You cannot change your employer if the new employer is an employment agency.
- The latter restriction refers to employment under a special governmental program such as Qualified Employee (Kvalifikovaný zaměstnanec). Restrictions on the possibility to change employer are defined by the specific conditions of that particular program.
Expiration of employee card
In conclusion, it is important to pay attention to the expiry date of your employee card. This often passes unnoticed. However unintentional this is, it can cause serious problems if 60 days elapse without new employment from the termination of your last employment in the work position for which the employee card was issued or of the work position for which it was changed. It is therefore extremely important that you do not let this deadline pass if you intend to apply for a change only after your original employment has ended.
You can also join us on our Facebook!
