Short-term (Schengen) Visa for Employment purposes compared to an Employee Card
What is a short-stay (Schengen) visa and for whom is it suitable? What are its advantages and disadvantages compared to the employee card? Is it possible to speed-up the process of employing a foreigner?
Read our following article.
For the purposes of this Article, an foreigner* means an alien from a third country. That is, a country that is not a member of the EU/EEA or Switzerland. A foreigner will also be understood as someone who holds a residence permit as a family member of an EU/EEA or Swiss citizen.
Short-term visas, also known as Schengen visas, entitle foreigners* to stay in the territory for up to 90 days, i.e. up to 3 months. These visas can be issued for a variety of purposes (invitation, culture, etc.), but this article focuses on the short-term visa for employment purposes.
Who is the short-term (Schengen) employment visa for?
The short-stay (Schengen) visa is intended for foreigners from third countries who wish to come to an EU/EEA Member State or Switzerland for a specific purpose. In this case, the foreigner is interested in performing work on the territory of the Czech Republic, but not exceeding 3 months.
From the foreigner's point of view, this may be a perfect opportunity for temporary or trial work in the Czech Republic before the foreigner decides to take up long-term employment.
From the employers' point of view, it can also be a useful tool in the sense that it is possible to arrange a short-term visa for a foreigner, try him/her out as a worker and then combine it with an employment card which entitles him/her to work for up to 2 years with the possibility of extension.
Although it could be argued that even in the case of a "trial", one could issue an employment card directly and terminate the employment relationship during the trial period if one of the parties is dissatisfied, the Schengen visa is considerably simpler and quicker than the employment card. More on this below "What is the advantage over an employee card?".
What are the advantages and disadvantages compared to an employee card?
The advantage is the length of the Schengen visa processing. In the case of employment purposes, an employment permit must also be processed (processing time 1 month) (For more details see the article: en-Povolení k zaměstnání), however, the Schengen visa is not limited by quotas, only by the capacity of the individual visa centres. After applying for a Schengen visa, the application is usually approved within a few days. Therefore, if we consider processing the work permit, preparing the documents, arranging a date and waiting for approval, we are looking at a processing time of around 2 months. (For more details, see the article:What is "employee card"?)
However, unlike the employee card, the Schengen visa cannot be extended. After the expiry of the period for which the Schengen visa is issued (i.e. after a maximum of 90 days), the foreigner must leave the territory of the Czech Republic.
The so-called 90/180 rule applies to Schengen visas, i.e. foreigners may stay in the territory for a maximum of 90 days in any 180-day period. After this period, the foreigner must leave for 90 days. However, he/she can obtain a new short-term (Schengen) visa during this period.
Is it possible to speed-up the process of employing the foreigner?
The most sought-after residence permit is still the employee card, however, short-term visas also serve their purpose. Short-term visas can be used as an 'accelerator' to bring foreigners to the Czech Republic as quickly as possible while concurrently processing the employee card so that the procedures are seamlessly interconnected. Nevertheless, the outcome of this process will always depend on the specific country, quotas, and other variables. Therefore, we will always assess your case individually and find the most suitable solution together.
Autor: Mgr. Chiara Havlíčková, lawyer
Sources:
[1] https://mzv.gov.cz/jnp/cz/informace_pro_cizince/kratkodobe_vizum/pravidlo_90_180/index.html</p>