The difference between an employee card and a blue card
The Employee Card and the Blue Card are residence titles that are associated with the right to work in the Czech Republic. But what is the difference between them? What do they entitle foreigners to or what do they not allow? And when to apply for an employee card and when to apply for a blue card?
You can find out all these differences in the following step-by-step article.
For the purposes of this Article, a 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.
In the case of both the employee card and the blue card, these are both residence titles, which also constitute a work permit. In both cases, a job vacancy must be reported, wage requirements and weekly working hours must be met, and in both cases the card is issued for a specific position with a specific employer for a specific period of time. However, despite the apparent similarities, these are fundamentally different titles.
Position Qualification
Employee Card
The qualification requirements for the vacancy are not fixed. If there are requirements for a particular position, whether by the employer or by law, these requirements must be met by the foreigner in order for the employment card to be issued.
Read also: What is "employee card"?
Blue Card
In the case of the Blue Card (except for the exception below), a high level of qualification is required. This means that the foreigner must have:
a university degree or
higher vocational education,
with at least 3 years of study,
or have higher professional skills equivalent to a university degree on the basis of comparable professional experience.
A higher qualification is not required if the foreigner has held a Blue Card for more than 2 years in another EU Member State.
Length of processing
Employee Card
In the article Co je "zaměstnanecká karta"? we take a closer look at how long it takes to process. Leaving aside the individual aspects that may arise, the average processing time is 4-6 months.
However, even in the case of an employee card, we may encounter highly skilled positions where nostrification can slow down the process of obtaining it.
Blue CardSince there are requirements for high qualifications, the foreigner cannot avoid the necessity of nostrification of his/her education. Nostrification takes about 3 months. It is advisable to have the nostrification processed before applying for a blue card. There is no labour market test after reporting a vacancy (unlike reporting a vacancy for an employment card). The processing time should be almost identical to that of the employment card, i.e. around 3-5 months depending on other aspects.
Announcing a free position
Employee Card
In order to start processing the employee card, you must report a vacancy. Vacancies are usually filled by foreigners after the so-called labour market test, when the job is preferably offered to citizens of the Czech Republic, or to citizens from EU/EEA Member States and Switzerland. After the labour market test, the vacancy is filled by foreigners. The duration of the labour market test is 10-30 days.
The employer must agree to employ foreigners from third countries and to fill the position with an employee card holder, either at the time of reporting or subsequently.
Blue Card
Even if you have a blue card, you must report the vacancy. However, it can be filled by foreigners immediately. In exceptional cases, e.g. in case of high unemployment, a labour market test of 10-30 days may also be carried out.
The employer must agree to employ third-country nationals and to fill the position with a blue card holder, either at the time of reporting or subsequently.
Salary
Employee Card
It is required that the foreigner's monthly salary, remuneration or earnings must always be at least equal to the basic rate of the monthly minimum wage. Weekly working hours must be at least 15 hours. An exception then applies to employee cards processed through a so-called government program (e.g., the Skilled Worker Program), where the monthly gross wage must be at least 1.2 times the guaranteed wage.
Blue Card
On the basis of the Communication of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of 15 March 2023 on the amount of the average gross annual wage in the Czech Republic for the year 2022 for the purposes of issuing blue cards under Act No. 326/1999 Coll., on the residence of foreigners in the territory of the Czech Republic and on the amendment of certain acts, as amended, the wage for blue cards was increased as of 1 May 2023.
Therefore, for the period from 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024, the average gross annual wage in the Czech Republic is CZK 484,236 (CZK 40,353/month). The gross monthly salary of a foreigner applying for a blue card must therefore be at least CZK 60,530 during this period
. [1]Length of permit
Employee Card
The length of validity of the employee card is based on the length of the employment contract, but no longer than 2 years. If the employment contract is for an indefinite period, the employee card will be issued for a period of 2 years.
The validity of the employee card can be extended repeatedly, up to a maximum of 2 years.
Blue Card
The validity of the blue card is always 3 months longer than the validity of the employment contract. The maximum validity of the Blue Card is 3 years.
The validity of the blue card can be extended repeatedly, for a maximum of 3 years each time.
Autor: Mgr. Chiara Havlíčková, lawyer
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