The Czech government has confirmed that it will raise the annual quota for hiring workers from the Philippines to 12 000 and introduce an initial 300-place quota for skilled employees from India as of 1 January 2027. Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček announced the move after several consecutive months in which Czech companies exhausted the monthly allocation of 858 places for Filipinos. Employers’ organisations have been lobbying for an increase to at least 15 000, arguing that the tight domestic labour market is constraining growth in manufacturing, construction and healthcare. Under the Qualified Employee Programme, firms can obtain fast-tracked employee cards for non-EU nationals who meet language and skills requirements. Since the cap for the Philippines rose to 10 300 in 2024, demand has continued to surge; the Labour Office registered almost 15 000 Filipino staff at the end of March 2026, up 42 % year-on-year. The Ministry of Industry presented the new figures during last week’s International Engineering Fair in Brno and says it is also looking at ways to carry forward unused monthly slots so that employers are not penalised by administrative bottlenecks. The healthcare sector is set to be one of the immediate beneficiaries. Prague’s Thomayer University Hospital expects the first cohort of 50 Filipino nurses and radiology assistants to arrive early next year. They are already attending intensive online Czech classes and will complete further language training on arrival. Hospitals hope that recruiting from the Philippines will ease chronic staff shortages and cut overtime costs for existing personnel. Companies nevertheless warn that visa processing times in Manila remain unpredictable. Business associations are calling for temporary reinforcement of staffing at the Czech embassy and for closer cooperation with the International Organization for Migration, which already supports visa processing for other Czech labour-migration schemes abroad. For corporate mobility managers the message is clear: plan 2027 workforce budgets with the higher quotas in mind, but continue to build in lead-times of four to six months for paperwork and accommodation arrangements. Firms that can demonstrate prepared housing and Czech-language support remain most likely to secure slots in the expanded programme.
Source: Frekvence 1 / ČTK
