January 23, 2012 - Effective Monday, January 23, non-EU foreign nationals who will be on Czech payroll must submit their work applications with a legalized diploma that has undergone nostrification.  The Ministry of Labour is still in discussions regarding whether or not this requirement will apply to seconded employees (those who remain on foreign payroll).  Nostrification is the process for verifying the eligibility of educational documents when the Czech Republic has no international agreement with the foreign school’s country of residence.  In this process, the Department of Education of Regional Authorities must make a decision based on the original school certificate, and if the submitted document does not include the participant’s full list of courses, an outline of the studied program may also be requested.  This new requirement can significantly delay the work permit process, as basic nostrification requires one to two months, and in the case of an appeal, it can last up to four months.  Exact processes for nostrification have not been published, so it is presently unknown whether or not nostrification may be initiated before the legalization is completed.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice group and our network provider located in Czech Republic.  For additional information, please contact GlobalVisaGroup@balglobal.com.