The Czech cabinet on 19 October approved a Ministry of Agriculture proposal to prolong so-called emergency employment visas—originally introduced in 2019 to plug staffing gaps in agriculture, food processing and forestry—through 31 December 2028. The scheme annually authorises up to 1 500 Ukrainian nationals and a combined 1 000 workers from Georgia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova and North Macedonia to take up one-year placements on Czech farms. Industry representatives welcomed the four-year extension, noting that agriculture employs roughly 90 000 people but faces an estimated shortage of five thousand. Livestock farming suffers most because work is year-round and wages lag behind manufacturing. “Two thousand seasonal workers represent a lifesaver,” said Michal Procházka of the Agrarian Chamber. The decision is politically sensitive: the ministry is led by the anti-immigration SPD party, which nonetheless conceded that targeted visa channels remain essential while Ukraine’s war disrupts regular labour flows. Opposition parties accused the government of inconsistency—simultaneously tightening refugee benefits yet enlarging economic migration. Practical limits remain. The visa cannot be renewed; employers therefore face annual turnover and onboarding costs. Recruitment agencies warn that processing times and embassy capacity still bottleneck arrivals. Moreover, holders must leave after twelve months, so farms wishing to retain experienced staff must restart the paperwork from scratch. For multinational agribusinesses the extension provides short-term certainty during a volatile period of commodity prices and labour scarcity. HR teams should, however, plan for continuous recruitment cycles and budget for agency fees, language training and housing, as the relief measure stops short of a pathway to long-term residence.
Source: AroundPrague.cz
