Travellers to Czechia from Philippines, India face planned quota rise from January

Czechia intends to raise the recruitment quotas for workers from the Philippines and India, Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlíček said, after employers reported that the existing limits do not meet demand. Figures for the increases have not been finalised, but the Philippines could see its annual allowance rise as early as January.

Key facts

• The Qualified Employee Program currently allocates 10,300 places a year to workers from the Philippines.
• The annual figure could rise to 12,000 from January, a recruitment company said the ministry indicated.
• Monthly limits stay in place, and unused places cannot be carried over to later months.
• Indonesia is set to get a new annual quota of 300 workers from next year.
• Prague's Thomayer University Hospital expects about 50 Filipino nurses and health professionals around the turn of the year.

What is changing?

Speaking on the Sorry jako program, Havlíček said modest increases were planned for countries where capacity is insufficient, naming the Philippines, India and potentially Kazakhstan. He did not announce final figures, and the increases for India and any additional countries have yet to be specified.

Under the Qualified Employee Program, the Philippine allocation is 10,300 places a year, split into monthly limits of roughly 858 places. Unused capacity cannot be transferred to later months. Recruitment company GrapeCare said the Industry and Trade Ministry indicated at Brno's engineering fair that the quota would rise to 12,000 from January, with monthly limits remaining.

Why is the quota being increased?

Employers used up the monthly allocation in July, August and September, the first such consecutive stretch since capacity was increased in 2024, according to recruitment company Orienta Czech. Its managing partner, Tomáš Surka, recommended lifting the annual quota to at least 15,000.

Businesses also complain about lengthy processing and limited information about their position in the application queue. Havlíček said employers recruit abroad for jobs they cannot fill on the Czech labour market. The Labour Office registered 14,923 Filipino employees at the end of March, more than double the number two years earlier and up 42 percent year on year.

Who else is affected?

From next year, Czech employers will also be able to recruit qualified workers from Indonesia under a new annual quota initially set at 300, according to labour migration lawyer Petra Silovská. She said employers hiring in Indonesia would be able to organise recruitment directly, without Czech recruitment agencies.

Demand spans industry and public services. Prague's Thomayer University Hospital expects approximately 50 nurses and other health professionals from the Philippines to arrive toward the end of this year or early next year. Spokesman Petr Sulek said the recruits hold university qualifications and have at least two years of experience, and the group includes radiology professionals. They are studying Czech intensively online and will continue language training after arriving, while the hospital arranges accommodation, bank accounts and insurance.

What this means for travellers

Workers from the Philippines, India and Indonesia planning to take up employment in Czechia should watch for the confirmed quota figures and the monthly application limits, since places are allocated by month and unused places are lost. Havlíček and Labour Minister Aleš Juchelka plan to visit the Philippines early next year to discuss recruitment.

No final quota numbers have been announced yet. The proposed Filipino increase is still to be confirmed, and figures for India and any additional countries remain unspecified.