Author
Asylum seekers do not initially have free access to the labour market. According to current law, an asylum seeker may not be employed during the first 6 months from the date of lodging of their asylum application.[1] After these initial 6 months, an asylum seeker can be employed, but they must obtain a work permit issued by the relevant regional branch of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic.[2] This permit is granted without a labour market test (i.e., no requirement to prove that no Czech/EU worker is available), but it still requires following the formal permission process before employment can start. If an asylum seeker is granted international protection in the form of asylum or subsidiary protection, they gain free access to the labour market and no longer need said work permit.[3]
The work permit application is subject to an administrative fee (CZK 500; approx. € 20)[4] and it is tied to a specific job and employer. If the asylum seeker wants to find a different job or employer, a new permit must be obtained. Employers may require evidence of professional competence or qualifications depending on the nature of the job. In practice, this means recognition of diplomas and certificates may be necessary, especially for regulated professions, but this is a general requirement for foreign workers rather than a policy specific to asylum seekers.
In practice, asylum seekers face some difficulties when accessing the labour market. Obtaining a work permit might prove challenging for some applicants as the process is quite administratively difficult. Without the help of the future employer or skilled social worker it can be almost impossible for the applicant to arrange everything necessary for the Labour Office. Moreover, workers of the Labour Office often do not speak foreign languages.
An older research among asylum seekers shows that one of the main difficulties in finding work was the lack of information about employment conditions among employers who often do not understand how to hire asylum seekers legally, which reduces the employers’ willingness to recruit them.[5] More so, the validity of asylum seekers’ ID cards is always limited for a maximum of 3 months, which may deter potential employers as they cannot have certainty that the asylum seeker will continue to be able to stay in the Czech Republic.
Insufficient knowledge of the Czech language is also a major disadvantage when seeking employment. Most jobs in the Czech Republic require knowledge of Czech, especially for customer-facing or qualified employment. Many asylum seekers have limited proficiency in the Czech language, which restricts their job options mostly to manual, seasonal, or low-skilled work.
The absence of recognised credentials or documentation of prior qualifications is another barrier, which contributes to asylum seekers taking work below their skill level or being confined to secondary or low‑skilled jobs.
Asylum seekers often have few contacts or networks in the Czech labour market and limited knowledge of how to search for jobs, which reduces their effectiveness in finding employment compared to other groups. This is why social workers are essential for helping asylum seekers with finding employment, but social workers that are available in the reception or residential centres usually do not help with these matters, and applicants are, thus, dependent on the assistance of social workers from NGOs.
Informal labour exploitation is also an issue, with some asylum seekers being employed under precarious or illegal conditions, often in seasonal or manual labour.
Asylum seekers do not generally have access to state‑organised vocational training schemes while their asylum application is pending. Usually, such projects are organised by civil society organisations.
In the Czech Republic, there are good practices facilitating access to the labour market for asylum seekers and other third-country nationals, in particular through targeted integration and employment-support projects implemented by specialised NGOs with EU funding. A recent notable example is the project ‘ Integration of Foreigners and Refugees into the Czech Labour Market’ (Integrace cizinců a uprchlíků na český trh práce), launched by the Czech Labour Office and implemented by OPU, between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2025.[6] The project was supported under the OPZ+ (Operational Programme Employment Plus), which is financed from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+). This project was targeted at all migrants with legal residence in the Czech Republic, including EU citizens, asylum applicants, and beneficiaries of international and temporary protection. The main objective of the project was to reduce inequalities in access to the labour market for at least 200 participants (including asylum seekers). The support provided included individual employment counselling and career guidance, mentoring and coaching, assistance with job search and placement, Czech language courses, support in finding suitable requalification courses, and assistance with the recognition (nostrification) of foreign education and qualifications. The project was implemented in several regions, specifically in Prague, Plzeň, Hradec Králové, Ostrava, and Brno, which enhanced its accessibility and regional coverage. The project ended in 2025.
In 2025, a work permit was issued to 153 asylum seekers. It is not possible to tell exactly how many asylum seekers were in employment as some of them work illegally.
[1] Section 97 (e) of the Employment Act.
[2] Section 97 (e) of the Employment Act.
[3] Section 98(c) of the Employment Act.
[4] Item 9(c) of the Annex to Act No. 634/2004 Coll.
[5] Ondřej Hofírek, Radka Klvaňová, K problematice přístupu žadatelů o azyl na trh práce v České Republice, 2009, available here.
[6] European Commission, Czechia: Labour Office launches new project to support the integration of foreigners, 2025, available here.