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Change in the Foreigner’s Job Title

Section 42g (7) of Act No. 326/1999 Coll., on the Residence of Foreign Nationals in the Czech Republic and on Amendments to Some Other Acts, as Amended (the “Act on the Residence of Foreign Nationals”) stipulates that a change in the employer or job title of the employment card holder or employing the foreigner at another work position or at another employer is subject to prior approval by the Ministry of the Interior (the “Ministry”).

Nevertheless, the term “job title” is not specified in detail by legal regulations. We believe that with respect to the legal definition of notification of and keeping records on vacancies to be staffed by employment card holders, the term job title must be construed in relation to the type of work. The job title thus designates the functional and organisational classification of the employee at his/her employer and is subordinate to the term “type of work”. Nevertheless, we have not encountered any situation in practice where the type of work specified by the employment contract remained unchanged but it was unclear whether a change in the job title occurred.

The information available to us indicates that the Ministry relates the term “change in job title” to the change in the CZ-ISCO code as part of classification of employment. If a change in the foreigner’s job title results in a change in the respective CZISCO code for which an employee card was issued, such a change is subject to a prior approval by the Ministry.

Nevertheless if a change in the foreigner’s job title does not result in a change in the respective CZ-ISO code, this change is not subject to a prior approval by the Ministry. For instance, where a foreigner works for an employer as a labourer and, due to a unilateral change in the job title, his/ her job responsibilities expand to include management and supervision of a group of other employees of the employer without changing the type of work specified in the employment contract, the foreigner is not obliged to ask for a prior consent to the change in the job title.