This myth of students being able to only work for 20 hours a week has been going around the Czech Republic for years. In this article we explain where the truth is so you once and for all know the exact answer to “How many hours can students work in Czech Republic”!
Student work vs “Student” work
First thing we want to address here is that there are two types of students in the Czech Republic – students of accredited courses of Czech universities and students of non-accredited courses. Unfortunately, “students” of non-accredited courses are in most cases not seen as students from the perspective of potential employment. Simply said, they can not work (even though there are exceptions such as Foreigners from nine countries will not need work permits in the Czech Republic – MISLEADING and INCORRECT).
To make matters simpler, we always refer as “students” only to students of accredited programs in the rest of the article.
Can students work full-time in Czech Republic
There used to be a limit of 20 hours a week about 15 years ago. Even though that was only valid this long time ago, many of our clients still find this information somewhere and then ask us about that. Generally speaking, there is no rule that would specify how much (foreign) students can work in the Czech Republic at the moment. So technically speaking, students can work even full-time in the Czech Republic.
They still need to fulfill the purpose of their stay though to keep their residence permit valid. It means that if you came here as a student and got a student visa or a residence permit, you primarily need to study. You have to meet the attendance requirements (if your school has them), you have to pass all the exams etc.
If you manage to do that and still have a full-time job, that is completely fine.
Should students switch to an employee card?
From our experience, it can often be very difficult to manage both full-time studies and full-time employment. Often students come to as asking if they should switch to an employee card.
Even though it is generally possible, we in many cases do not recommend that. And if we do, we recommend doing it safely. There are couple problems with switching from the student residence permit to the employee card:
1. The MOI could see that as your intention all along (meaning you never wanted to study here, it was just the easiest option for you to get a visa). If they think this, that will not be good neither for your own application, neither for any students coming after you (since then the MOI will all see them as fraudsters, just applying for student visa because it is simple, even though they really want to just work here).
2. The student visa/residence permit gives you more flexibility. As a student, you have free access to Czech Labor market which means you can have multiple jobs at the same time and/or that you can change jobs freely. If you switch to the employee card, you will be tied to one employer with many rules to follow.
3. Related to the previous point, when students do not go through us for this process, they often apply for the non-dual employee card. This might sound like a good thing to do since it allows you to keep the free access to Czech Labor Market. It is only a good thing as long as you continue your studies, pass all your exams and get a Czech diploma. If you fail the school at any point, you can get yourself (and potentially your employer as well) into serious trouble. So, if you want to switch to an employee card, let it be the standard employee card, not the non-dual one.
Is it the same for student visa and student residence permit?
Hopefully the above article explained the basics of working as a student properly 🙂 One last question to answer is if the same rules apply to both the student residence permit and a student visa. The answer is “technically yes”. On the other hand, if you only have a visa (sticker in your passport), it might be more difficult for you to prove to your potential employer that you can actually work. If you are holding a long-term residence permit (biometric card), it clearly states what is your working status on the card 🙂
Let us know if this article has been helpful! If you have any more questions or you want us to help you with any of the matters above, just fill in any of the forms on this page and we’ll get in touch with you right away 🙂
Move To Prague team
