Foreign Experts May Get Czech Permanent Residence after 18 Months
Czech Press Agency, Katerina Krausova (28. 5. 2007).
Prague, May 28 (CTK) - Highly qualified foreign experts probably will be able to receive permanent residence in the Czech Republic after 18 months as from July, according to a Labour Ministry plan that the government has approved.
Under standard conditions, foreigners can apply for Czech citizenship only after they have stayed five years in the country. Until now, the shortened period for the application has been 30 months. From July 2007 to June 2008, up to 2000 foreigners may join the project.
The Czech Republic seeks to allure experts and researchers from a number of countries. Its project now comprises 11 states and 612 foreigners have been participating in it since 2003. The project is to test the possibilities of a future Czech immigration policy. (...)
According to available data, 275,000 foreigners live in the Czech Republic which has a population of 10 million. In 2003, there were some 245,000 of them. Foreigners form 4 percent of the country's workforce, in Prague it is 10 percent.
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