All companies need quality specialists, highly skilled workers, and talent to grow, regardless of size and age. Czech technology companies sometimes struggle to find experts on the domestic labor market, therefore turning their recruitment efforts abroad. CzechInvest, through government visa programs, helps such companies to relieve the administrative burden of the visa process and reduce its length by up to half.
Startups, young innovative companies with unique technological solutions, can take advantage of the significant benefits of the Key Personnel and Scientific Personnel Visa Program since 2019. “Thanks to the program, startups can get, for example, priority access to the embassy to apply for a residence permit (employee card, blue card, and long-term visa for business purposes) or a shorter time for a decision on the application,” said Petr Kopeček, Director of the Startup Acceleration Department at CzechInvest, adding: “However, the benefits of the program are currently not used by so many startups, so we are mapping the reason for the low interest in the Czech startup community and collecting suggestions to make our services as effective as possible.”
CzechInvest is the guarantor of the Key and Scientific Personnel Program for startups. Every year, it organizes visa seminars in Prague, Brno, and Ostrava, where it informs about new developments in the employment of foreigners and the use of government visa programs, and also webinars focused on visa support for startups. “Our goal is to raise awareness among startups about the services and support that CzechInvest can offer in the area of relocation of specialists from abroad. We have sophisticated and functional tools for the accelerated visa process that startups can use,” adds Gabriela Bauerová, Director of the Investment Development Department.
CzechInvest registers applications to the Key Personnel and Scientific Personnel Programme for newly established companies, technology companies, research organizations, and startups. Applications from large companies are managed by MIT.
In July this year, the Ministry of Industry and Trade also introduced the new Digital Nomad Visa Program. That allows citizens of Australia, Japan, Canada, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, or Taiwan to stay and work remotely in Czechia. Czechia is thus responding to the changing trends in international mobility, especially for IT professionals. Czech startups also have the opportunity to use the services of digital nomads for their projects and contracts.
More information about visa support for startups and a questionnaire for mapping their current interest is available here. (in Czech)
If you have any questions, you can contact the CzechInvest visa support team.
Afc-visa@czechinvest.org or programklicovy@czechinvest.org
Source: CzechInvest
