As there are various rumors spreading about the expected change to the Employment Code regarding the citizens of Australia, Japan, Canada, Korea, New Zealand, UK, Israel, Taiwan, Singapore and USA that should come into effect July 1, I decided to dedicate a blog article to this topic to explain properly what it means.
Note that this law as of May 8 has not been passed yet and therefore information in this article may be a subject of change.
MAY 17 UPDATE: The list of countries shall be eventually a bit longer. The following countries should also be added: Singapore, Israel, Taiwan.
JUNE 6 UPDATE: The government approved this Amendment to the on June 5!
JUNE 1 UPDATE: The Amendment to the law has come into effect.

Citizens of the 10 countries in question to receive a "free access to the labour market." What is it?
Free access to the labour market may sound odd, however it is a very commonly known term in the immigration world and to those hiring expats. It means that such expat has the right to work anywhere in the Czech Republic and therefore can be hired immediately without additional process required, as long as holding a valid visa (= being legal in the Czech Republic).
Right now, free access to the labour market (a whole article on this topic to be found here) is already granted to all EU nationals and their family members, students of certified study programs, family members of non-EU nationals holding family reunion visas, or permanent residency holders, for instance.
Does it mean that the citizens of those 10 countries will no longer need a work visa to live in the Czech Republic?
Absolutely not! Visa/residence permits are of course still required for those who want to live in the Czech Republic long-term.
It is visa in accordance to the purpose of stay that one should apply for. In case of employment, it would be Employee or Blue card, in case of studies, it would be student visa etc.
The new law shall only make the process easier with waiving the Vacancy (or work permit) requirement.
How will this affect those already residing in the Czech Republic?
That very much depends on what type of visa these expats hold. In case one is a holder of a permanent residency, the free access to the labour market is already granted to such person, therefore one will not benefit from such change.
Those residing in the Czech Republic based on an Employee card shall benefit from this when changing an employer - it shall no longer be required to undergo the process of the Change of employer, which can take up to 60 days. Instead, one will only have to notify the immigration authorities of changing employer, which is a matter of one appointment.
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