The Czech Republic admits Filipino workers through a government programme with a hard number attached: 10,300 places a year, 858 a month, and in the second half of 2026 the monthly capacity went within hours of release. The Government has now said the quota will rise. This page explains how the programme works, who qualifies, what the wage criterion is, and how we plan hires around a quota that is both the gate and the calendar.
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.
The programme is the Czech state's answer to a practical problem: embassies in source countries cannot take every applicant, so the Government allocates appointment capacity by country and by month and lets accredited garants distribute it to eligible employers for named candidates. It is not a work permit, not a shortcut past the Ministry of the Interior and not a replacement for the 30-day labour-market test; an employer outside the programme can in theory apply for an Employee Card for a Filipino, but without an appointment in Manila the application never starts — which is why, in practice, the programme is the route.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade splits the Philippine annual quota of 10,300 into monthly capacities of 858 (10,300 ÷ 12 ≈ 858; the Manila figure of 11,400 published by the Czech Embassy on 23 July 2026 = 10,300 Qualified Employee Programme + 1,000 Highly Qualified / Key and Scientific Staff + 100 outside the programmes), loads them into its system at 9:30 on the published day and opens them at 10:00, and assigns unique codes to named workers whose employers have filed through a garant; places not taken in a month are not carried over. In July, August and September 2026 the monthly capacity was exhausted within hours — the September release of 9 September at 10:00 was gone the same morning — so an application that was not in the system at the moment of release waited for the next month. In 2025, 4,791 Filipinos were admitted against the 10,300 quota; in 2026 demand overtook the monthly ceiling. We therefore file every employer's programme application before the release date, hold the candidates' documents complete, and plan start dates on the release calendar rather than on the hoped-for month.
On 14 October 2026 Czech Television's main evening news reported that Czech firms had exhausted the monthly Philippine quota three months in a row; on 15 October Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry Karel Havlíček said the Government would raise the quotas for workers from the Philippines and India — without a figure; a number of 12,000 from January 2027 circulated from the Brno engineering fair without ministerial confirmation, and industry recommended at least 15,000 with carry-over of unused monthly places. The Chamber of Commerce expects the increase from early 2027; Havlíček and Labour Minister Juchelka plan a visit to the Philippines in early 2027; the Ministry is preparing a faster system with a target decision time of about 45 days. None of this is in force: the regulation of 1 July 2026 left the Philippine programme quota at 10,300 and the monthly capacity at 858, and we plan on those numbers. The day the resolution is published, this page and its Czech counterpart change together.
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.
10,300 places a year (Government Regulation 109/2026 Coll.), released as 858 a month and assigned to named workers. The Government announced on 15 October 2026 that it will be raised — a figure of 12,000 from January 2027 circulated unconfirmed — but no regulation had been published at the time of review.
Because demand from Czech employers exceeded the monthly ceiling of 858 in July, August and September 2026; capacity went within hours of release. Applications not in the system at release wait for the next month.
No — the Ministry of the Interior's 60-day (90-day) decision time and the 30-day labour-market test still apply. The programme guarantees the embassy appointment in Manila, which is otherwise the missing step.
At least CZK 27,328 gross a month in 2026 and CZK 30,378 from 1 January 2027, and never less than comparable employees doing the same work.
No — neither the Ministry nor the garants charge for inclusion. Recruitment and administration are a separate engagement with us and are not quoted on this site.
General information for employers, not legal or migration advice. Rules change; we re-verify before each hire.