Czech Integration Policy

With the growth of the foreign population in the Czech Republic, the Czech government had to create a strategy for successful integration of foreigners in the Czech society. In 2000, the government created the first Concept of Immigrant Integration (MZV 2016). The goal of this document was to help the integration of the growing numbers of foreigners, especially learning from the experience of the Western countries, who underestimated the integration, assuming that foreign workers will go back to their country of origin. The Concept was influenced by the membership of the Czech Republic in the Council of Europe by learning the European concepts of immigration and experiences of the old members of the Council (Sisova 2005). The updated Strategy for the Integration of Foreigners stated target groups, whose integration was the priority.

Those groups were the immigrants living in the Czech Republic for more than one year and children of immigrants, who were born in the Czech Republic, known as a second generation (Sisova 2005).

‧

國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

In 2004, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs presented the Report on the Situation of Foreigners in the Czech Republic. The report pointed out several problems that made integration of the foreigners difficult. The first issue was a difficulty to obtain the work permit or residence permit because of strict requirements. The permanent residence could be obtained after 10 years of living in the Czech Republic, and long term visa (issued for 1 year) needed to be renewed every year. The renewal was not guaranteed, which could have influenced some immigrants not to put too much effort into learning the Czech language and culture, because they were not sure, whether they could stay in the country long-term. The second issue was that foreigners had to pay the social security tax, without the right to benefit from them (in case they lose their job, for example). Those, having their residence permit issued based on employment, could lose their residence permit as well and had to return to their country of origin, if they lost their job. Another problem was the difficult access to the information about legal requirements for the residence permits, because the Alien’s Registration Office, who issues the permits, was not very organized and overloaded with applications. Lastly, buying a property was difficult for the most of foreigners, no voting rights even on the local level, and not owning any document besides their passport was also perceived as a struggle to integrate (Sisova 2005).

In 2015, The New Concept of Integration was accepted (Ministry of Interior 2016). The goal of the new concept was a successful, effective, and diversified integration of the foreigners living in the Czech Republic. The Czech integration policy takes an assimilation approach expecting a successfully integrated immigrant to understand the Czech language and culture, live an independent and dignified life in the Czech Republic and live in the harmony with the local population. The Czech government points out that successful integration should include economic, social, cultural, and political aspects of life. In the author’s research, she used the same criteria to evaluate the integration process of Ukrainian immigrants in the Czech Republic.

‧

The New Concept of Integration has several new priorities such as:

1. Making the information about legal employment accessible to immigrants

2. Supporting integration efforts such as language courses, socio-cultural orientation and adaptation classes for newcomers and immigrants already living in the country

3. Implementing integration efforts in the regions

4. Supporting social fieldwork to understand the needs of the immigrants

5. Training the government officials to work with foreigners, especially understanding the cultural aspects

The New Concept of Integration led to the participation of the regions in the integration efforts and opening of the Integration centers (Ministry of Interior 2016). The centers were created with the support of the EU from the Integration Fund of the EU (EIF) and from the year 2015 Asylum, Migration, and Integration Fund (AIMF). In 2016, the Integration centers have already existed in 13 regions of the Czech Republic. For instance, the Integration Centre is Prague offers Czech language classes, consulting, and the legal information. The NGOs working on integration of foreigners are also supported from the EU funds.

The Czech government is also working on providing the information to foreigners about the Czech Republic by using the three level approach (Ministry of Interior 2016). The first level is to provide information before the arrival by distributing the brochures (the movie called Next Stop: the Czech Republic) at the Czech embassies around the world. The second level is Introduction course

‧

國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

The government is working on the improvement of the health insurance law for foreigners, in order to put the end to the discrimination of the foreigners in the hospitals. The goal of the policy is to promise local health providers that the foreigners private health insurance provides the same benefits as the Czech National Health Insurance. This policy will help to avoid the discrimination and refusal of providing medical treatment to foreigners (Ministry of Interior 2016).

There is a discussion on the voting rights on regional level for foreigners with residence permits. Such voting rights should improve the political integration of immigrants, who live in the Czech Republic permanently. So far, the government refused accepting such law.

Knowledge of the Czech language is also a discussed topic, as so far the Czech language test for residence permits is not sufficient level. The government is thinking of raising the difficulty of this exam from level A1 to the level A2. In 2015, the success rate for the Czech language exam was 70 percent (Ministry of Interior 2016).

‧

國

立 政 治 大 學

‧

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y