In order to fulfill legal requirements of your stay in the Czech Republic, you must work on a trade license (živnostenský list or zivno), own a company or be an employee of the local company. To work as an employee, non-EU citizens must first obtain work permit and employment visa. For EU citizens the procedure is much more simple and a work permit is not required for them to be legally employed.
As obtaining a work permit takes a lot of time and effort, and being employed has its own pro’s and con’s, you might consider becoming a self-employed freelancer. The following list of self-employment benefits should convince you, if you’re still hesitating.
Benefits of being a freelancer in CZ
– Trade license can be obtained at your local Zivnostensky urad. All you need is a passport and a decent knowledge of Czech language to go through a long list of trade activities and choose the ones you’re going to perform. Trade license will be ready within a couple of days, unlike the work permit, for which you can wait for months.
– As a freelancer you basically have an unlimited number of work possibilities in different fields. You can easily find projects related to translation, teaching languages, copywriting, graphic and web design, accountancy etc. No limits, depends on your skills and desire to work.
– Owning a trade license means independence and flexibility. You choose projects you’d like to work on, so as the number of hours you’d like to spend working on it.
– Enforce new ideas in a company is often so difficult for employees. Businesses and entrepreneurs are solely responsible for your success or failure. New ideas are though a necessity to be better than the competition. Self-employment is so attractive for creative people, since they can quickly adapt their plans and promote new ideas.
– Freelancers pay lower taxes on social security and health insurance. Since freelancers are responsible for all business risks and draw minimal state benefits in comparison to employees.
– You choose, who you’d like to work with. A lot of freelancers are accustomed to work individually, which perfectly suits them. However, if you need some help from a third party, you do your own research and choose cooperation based on your requirements. In case of employment, you’re completely dependent on decisions of your supervisors. This also applies to clients, as you only choose the projects, which appeal to you.
Now you must be convinced 🙂 In case you don’t own a trade license yet, Foreigners.cz can arrange it for you within a few work days! Katka, our Expat and Immigration consultant, will be happy to assist you. Just send your request to prague@foreigners.cz and we’ll take care of the rest!
Hi, I am Chand from India. I am a PHP web developer. I am looking for work permit in Czech Republic. Do you know any consultancy who provides or help in getting jobs and documentation done.
Hi Chand, thanks for your feedback! Sure, Foreigners.cz can help you with all the paperwork. Just drop us a line to prague@foreigners.cz, we’re happy yo help 🙂
Hi ‘m sagar from India , i have Trade License ( živnostenský rejstřík ) and M looking for job in Czech Republic ,,can You saggest me how to find jobs in Czech .
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Hi
I want to teach English and business English in Prague. I do not have a degree but will be TEFL certified by doing the course in Prague.
Do I apply for a Schengen visa to go there for the course. When and how would I apply for a trade license or working visa? How much does each type of visa cost?
Good day, Sir/ Madam
My name is Sankar from India, looking for migrate to Czech Republic as employee or freelancer, Actually I am HR & Business development professional. I was gone through you FB page I found many ways to migrate to Czech Republic. So,if there is any possibilities let me know please ?
Hello Sankar,
Thank you for your comment! Sure, there’re a lot of possibilities. If you want to find a job in the Czech Republic, we strongly recommend you to purchase our e-book where you can find everything about job search in Czechia. Please write at info@foreigners.cz and my colleagues will get back to you as soon as possible.
Kind regards,
Karina.
I’m a non-EU citizen married to a Czech citizen and living in Prague. I have applied for temporary residence (based on family reunification) but am still waiting for the application to be processed. I am a self-employed freelancer; can I get a živnostenský list while I am still waiting for my residence application to be processed?
Hi Bethany,
thank you for reaching out to us! Please, contact my colleagues in Prague via prague@foreigners.cz – they’ll gladly help you with the whole process 🙂
Kind regards,
Anna
Are you allowed also to provide services in Europe with the czech živnostenský list?
For example invoice clients who are located in western countries? Or work for some time outside of Cz as a freelancer under the trade license?
I hear you must be in CZ and work for CZ clients with it. Is it true?
Hi Victoria!
From what I understand, you are able to provide services in any EU state with a Czech ŽL as long as your main center of work is still the Czech Republic.
For details, you might want to email Živnostenstký úřad in your area.
Best,
Tereza