The Employee Card is the Czech single permit: one application, one decision, residence and work together, up to two years. For a Filipino worker the card is applied for in Manila on an appointment the Qualified Employee Programme provides, and decided in Prague within a statutory 60 to 90 days. This page is the employer's part of that file — the vacancy, the contract, the documents, the reporting — in the order that avoids the two delays that account for most lost weeks.
A Czech employer hires a Filipino on an Employee Card (zaměstnanecká karta) — one permit for residence and work, issued by the Ministry of the Interior for the length of the employment up to two years and renewable — and reaches the Czech Embassy in Manila through the Government's Qualified Employee Programme (Program kvalifikovaný zaměstnanec), run by the Ministry of Industry and Trade with the Chamber of Commerce, the Confederation of Industry, CzechInvest and the Agrarian Chamber as garants. The programme does not shorten the Ministry's statutory decision time of 60 days (90 in complex cases) and does not replace the 30-day labour-market test in the central vacancy register; what it does is guarantee the candidate an appointment within the Philippine annual quota of 10,300 places — set by Government Regulation No. 109/2026 Coll. for the Embassy in Manila (11,400 Employee Card applications a year, 10,300 of them for the programme), divided evenly into twelve months of 858 and assigned to named workers at a release at 10:00 on the published day; unused monthly places are not carried over. In 2025 the programme admitted 10,795 workers from thirteen countries, 4,791 of them from the Philippines — the largest group — and in July, August and September 2026 the monthly Philippine capacity was exhausted within hours of release. On 15 October 2026 Deputy Prime Minister Havlíček announced that the quotas for the Philippines and India will be raised; a figure of 12,000 a year from January 2027 circulated from the Brno engineering fair without ministerial confirmation, industry recommended at least 15,000, and until a government regulation is published the 10,300 quota applies. Wages must be at least CZK 27,328 gross a month in 2026 (1.22 × the minimum wage of CZK 22,400) — CZK 30,378 from 1 January 2027 — and not lower than comparable employees. The client is always the employer; Orienta Czech administers the process under power of attorney.
On 1 October 2025 the grace period after the end of employment was extended from 60 to 90 days (Act 314/2025 Coll.); on 1 January 2026 the minimum wage rose to CZK 22,400 (CZK 134.40 an hour) and the programme's wage criterion to CZK 27,328; on 15 March 2026 the Ministry of Industry and Trade published the current programme version with an individual exemption from the two-year rule and clarified documentation; on 1 April 2026 the reporting of employees' starts and terminations moved to the Unified Monthly Employer Report (JMHZ/REGZEC) under Act 323/2025 Coll., replacing the information cards — outside the programme but binding on every employer; the new Act on the Residence of Foreigners (print 144), with full digitalisation of the residence agenda, passed the Chamber of Deputies on 11 September 2026 and the Senate on 21 October 2026; it awaits the President's signature and takes effect on 1 January 2029 — until then Act 326/1999 Coll. applies; on 26 September 2026 the Ministry of Labour's Notice 171/2026 Coll. set the 2027 minimum wage at CZK 24,900 (CZK 148.30 an hour), which lifts the wage criterion to CZK 30,378 on 1 January 2027. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is preparing a faster processing system with a 45-day target; it is not yet in operation.
The employer signs the contract, files the vacancy and the programme application, provides the accommodation and registers the employee; the worker applies in Manila and collects the card; the Ministry decides. Orienta Czech prepares every document, files with the Labour Office and the garant under the employer's power of attorney, coordinates the Embassy appointment and the Ministry's queries, meets the worker at the airport and completes biometrics, card collection, registration and the first-month aftercare; Prime Search runs the Philippine side. Czech law does not require a licensed immigration adviser for this coordination, and the employer remains the only employer.
Recruitment runs through our own DMW-licensed agency, Prime Search Manpower Agency Inc. in Makati (licence DMW-027-LB-11182024): your company is accredited at the Migrant Workers Office at the Philippine Embassy in Prague — which sits in the same city as the Ministry of the Interior that decides the Employee Card, keeping contract verification and the immigration decision in one place — the job order is registered with the DMW, and every worker leaves Manila with a verified contract, medical clearance, pre-departure orientation and an Overseas Employment Certificate. Recruitment follows the employer-pays principle: no applicant pays for an interview, a trade test or a place on a shortlist. Your company is the employer from day one; Orienta Czech, the group's EU delivery entity licensed by the Czech Ministry of Labour, runs the recruitment and the immigration administration under your power of attorney and never employs or leases the workers.
Everything here is subject to the Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals (326/1999 Coll.), the Employment Act (435/2004 Coll.), the Government's Qualified Employee Programme as published by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of the Interior's practice in force and Philippine DMW rules.
60 days by statute, 90 in complex cases, from a complete application; a request for supplementary documents adds weeks, which is why we file complete files and answer requests within the deadline.
Yes — the vacancy is reported to the central register and offered for 30 days before a third-country national can fill it. The programme does not remove it; it runs in parallel with the programme filing.
Six months after the decision became final, with notification to the Ministry at least 30 days in advance and a new position that meets the conditions; a worker whose employment ends has 90 days on the card to find a new one.
The reporting system through which employers register the arrival of foreign employees since 1 April 2026 — before the first working day and no earlier than eight days before it.
The employer signs and provides; the worker applies in Manila; the Ministry decides. We prepare and file under power of attorney and run the Philippine side; the employer stays the only employer.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.