At the end of last year, a total of 392,100 foreigners with long-term or permanent residence permits lived in the Czech Republic that had 10,381,130 inhabitants, according to preliminary data. The number of foreigners in the Czech Republic increased by 70,600 last year, which has been the so far highest increase. Since 1993 the number of foreigners in the country has risen five times. Fifteen years ago, 77,670 foreigners with long-term or permanent residence permits lived in the Czech Republic, making up 0.75 percent of all CzechRep below EU average in foreigner integration - MIPEX ...
Czechs critical of work of their MEPs-poll ... inhabitants.
Since then their number has annually increased except for 2000 when it declined. Though the number of foreigners has been constantly rising in the Czech Republic, their share is still very low compared to highly developed countries in Western Europe. Foreigners make up 10 percent of population in the neighbouring Austria and Germany, for instance. On the contrary, the neighbouring Poland and Slovakia have a lower share of foreigners than the Czech Republic. The largest group of foreign migrants in the Czech Republic comes from Ukraine. At the end of last year, 126,500 Ukrainians lived in the country on the basis of a long-term or a permanent residence permit. Slovaks are the second most numerous group as 67,880 of them lived in the Czech Republic last year. According to the foreigner police, almost 51,000 Vietnamese, 23,300 Russians and 20,600 Poles also held long-term or permanent residence permits. The Czech Republic is slowly turning from a transit country for foreigners into a destination country. Many foreigners are attracted by the rising living standards in the Czech Republic and possibilities to earn money. The interest in jobs in the Czech Republic has increased since the country joined the EU in May 2004, and now it is stimulated by economic growth. Moreover, unemployment rate in the Czech Republic is decreasing and some companies suffer from a shortage of workforce and seek foreign workers. This is also why the Czech Republic prepares a system of "green cards" for foreign workers. The Czech Republic has applied a programme of foreigners' integration since 2000 when the cabinet approved it. The programme was upgraded two years ago. It includes measures concerning the Czech language knowledge, economic self-sufficiency of foreigners in the Czech Republic, their orientation in Czech society and relations with Czechs. An amendment to the employment law that the government is to discuss next Wednesday should also facilitate conditions for employing foreigners. As from next year, a certain level of Czech language knowledge will also be a condition for granting permanent residence permit.
(Ceske Noviny)
more info >>
<< Back