Hi Iain,

My partner is Czech and we are looking into the possibility of moving from the UK to Prague. I work in Finance and was just wondering what the market was like for expats getting jobs in Finance in Prague? Do you have any thoughts/suggestions/recommendations that you could give me?

Many thanks
Mike

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Hello,
I am replying to your message that you posed on the forum. I am a junior business mang. major with a minor in int'l business. I am interested in becoming an expat and was wondering what the best way would be. How exactly did you go about doing it? Would you reccomend getting a job in the US first and then relocating or starting overseas?
thanks for your help
Christine

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Hi there!

My name is Helen and my husband and I may be moving to Olomouc. His plan is to attend Med School, and I was hoping you may have some job advice for myself. Is there international placing agencies or someone (or group) I should know about contacting? I am hoping to eventually get back into school myself and finish my degree, but for now I just peace of mind that it is possible to find jobs for people from other counties. If you have any advice at all, I would greatly appreciate it!

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Hi Sheila,

Most expats, especially in Prague, become expats more by accident than design. For myself, I was quite happy in the UK until I met my future Czech wife and decided to come across and live with her four years ago.

Others come here through their work after being transferred here by their companies. Many of these people decide to stay on after their transfer runs out.

Before you become an Expat, you really need to examine two questions I guess. Firstly, why do you want to live and work in a foreign country? Secondly, do you really understand the reality of living in Prague as an Expat?

Having a real career here can sometimes be challenging, especially for non European Union citizens. Employment conditions here make it easy for European Union people to work in other EU countries (we just have to turn up with a passport and a CV basically). For non EU Expats the process is much more complicated and many companies, even large internationals are reluctant to deal with the sometimes long and drawn out paperwork and waiting process.

There is a very large American, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand community here (somewhere around 30 000 in Prague alone). most people come here to study and then return after one or two years. For those that stay, their options are sometimes limited. Many people have to resort to proofreading English text on a freelance basis or teaching English language courses. If this is what you want to do, I would strongly suggest that you go for a TOEFL certificate in the US with a company that can offer you outplacements to other countries after qualification. After you are qualified, there are many websites which offer work opportunities abroad that you can use to find something.

One word of warning...you will never get rich teaching English and it is hard work if you want to do it well!

The best way to find a 'real' (no disrespect to English teachers), job is to come to the country and find work at it there. In Prague there are so many immediately available foreign guys and girls, that we rarely have to look at relocating people or hiring people from outside of the Czech Republic.

Teaching English will secure some income while you look around for something else, but be prepared to work just as hard to find the job that you actually want. Most Foreign guys here have to resort to working in call centres or customer support centres as these are the main opportunities for Expats.

I hope this helps a little, I don't want to sound negative, there are a lot of good points about living here too! Prague is an easy town for foreigners to live in, you get to meet some interesting people and make some good friends and the Czech Republic is a beautiful place where you can enjoy a great balanced lifestyle.

Let me know if you need anything more specific!

Iain

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Hi, Iain

I just found your note and thought it was quite helpful. I am thinking of relocating back to Europe after spending the last 10 years in Dubai, working for an oil & gas multinational. I wonder if you can recommend some good recruitment agencies in Prague that I can register with? I am a Bulgarian citizen, fluent in English, Russian, speak intermediate French and some Arabic. Unfortunately, I do not speak but understand Chech. I am an HRD/recruitment professional with additional experience in HRIS (SAP 4.6).

Thanks!

Kate

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Hi Iain,
Thank you for your offer on here if any of us has a question... I do have one and I would really appreciate if you can reply with any kind of information. I have done some search, though not very lucky. I am working at marine business for last three years here in UK, my partner is Canadian now living back in Canada. I was wondering if you have any kind of information about Canadian resident living/or working in Czech Republic. What I have found is pretty clear, he needs "sponsorship" company who would employe him. But so far I just had no luck in getting any answers from those few agencies I have already contacted. We have done the same for UK, just waiting now for some replies.
Thank you very much - for positive or even negative reply.
Silvia

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Hi Silvia,

I'm not a perfect expert in Visa applications, but I do a have a few American and Canadian friends that have had to do a lot of paperwork to live here!

You don't technically need to have sponsorship to work in the Czech Republic but, practically, it is nearly impossible without it (unless you are married, which offers different opportunities).

Realistically, most people come here on short term tourist visa's and try to find work while on this visa. I'm not sure what your partner does, if he has some specific skills which are desperately needed in the Czech Republic then his job opportunities would be a lot better, but there are companies here that are willing to organise working permission and visa's for low level positions also.

The standard options for non-EU citizens include the following:

* Teach English. Obvious but quite useful in that, you can normally sign up to a language school and pay for a TEFL certificate and have a guarantee of some work when you gain the certificate. Some language schools accept candidates before they arrive in the Czech Republic and will arrange all the necessary working permission etc.

* Alternatively, you can take a basic call centre or telesales position for a number of companies (I'm not promoting anyone here but I'll email you a list of potential companies privately if you need it). Many call centres are desperate for native english speaking people and again, will organise working permission and sponsorship for you.

* There are possibilities to work for yourself in Prague depending on what skills your partner has. Many of my American friends have applied for an independant trade licence (Zivnostencky List) and work as free lance teachers, IT developers, Graphic Designers, Musicians and other things. It can be a little time consuming and of course, you then have to generate your own business opportunities but it does give people more freedom to follow a career that they want.

As for specific advice about exactly what paperwork you need to do, I would probably have to refer you to someone more experienced than me. I recommend that you put a request on www.expats.cz as there are quite a few helpful posters on there that will have exactly the experience that you need.

Realistically, it is hard for Americans and Canadians over here, mainly because they are competing for jobs not just against native Czech and Slovak people but also because they are competing against UK, Irish and other EU citizens that don't require a complicated or time consuming paperwork exercise before starting work.

However...it is possible if you want to, certainly I know many happy people here that have managed it!

I hope this helps a little, let me know if there is anything else I can do!

Iain

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Hi, Iain, Nice to see your post here.
I am David,
I am in Australia, coming to do business in Czech soon or later also looking into business chances there. I would like to know you to exchange ideas to discover Czech cultures or even find out some biz chances to cooperate.
just feel free to contact me by phone or mail or chat software.

Tel.:0437.088.600
For Overseas Call : +61.437.088.600
Skype Name : David.Tan888
Skype mobile phone is on all the time
Msn Name : D9188@hotmail.com
E_mail:USA9188@gmail.com
Great.Looking forward to hearing from you.

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Hi Iain,

I'm a Sri Lankan student living in the U.S. I'm finishing my M.S degree in chemistry next year and thinking of moving to Prague. My girlfriend is from Slovakia and we both like to move to Prague next year. I would like to ask about the job market for chemists.

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Hi Iain, my name is Donnett. i've been considering a move to eastern europe for some time. i've worked fulll-time as a TESOL teacher for years. I have extensive qualifications, having worked with companies, having done business seminars, worked with universities and later wrote a language program for use by language schools and adults in general, mainly for speakers of Spanish.(website coming soon.) i'm looking for a change and wonder if you can help me in that direction with a business connection?

Thank you,
Donnett Conn

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Hi Iain

I was wondering if you know what paper work i will need to register as a permiant resident in Czech? I am an EU citizen orginally from the UK but have lived and have residency in Spain also. My husband currently works over here and i am expecting our 1st baby so at present dont work.

Thank you, Etty.

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Thank you for your post. You mentioned a few times jobs in call centers, I wonder if you had a general idea of the wages these types of jobs offer, and if it is possible to get one part time? Also what is the general cost of living there? I realize that, like everywhere, that is a ridiculously general question. However, perhaps you could give what you perceive to be the range? Thanks again

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Hi Donnett, I don't know if you will get this message but I was wondering about the web site you mentioned. Did you move to Eastern Europe? Good Luck

Penny

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