According to the survey, fifty percent of all foreigners in the CR live in Prague. Most foreigners seem to be in Prague 9, 5, 2 ,7 and especially in Prague 4 where the number reaches 29 000. The most numerous are Ukrainians, Vietnamese and Russians.
Accommodation: Yes for a Briton, no for a Ukrainian
Most foreigners living in Prague, who contributed to the survey, agreed that finding accommodation and sorting out residency are among the most complicated processes in the CR. Foreigners often talked about problems with landlords. “Too hard, they did not want to rent to foreigners and when they want to rent they do not want to give a proof of residency for the police. When we needed the paper for the police, the landlady said that she would give it to us but that she would increase the rent,” said a lady from Belarus.
Landlords, mostly due to stereotypes, do not want to rent to foreigners for the former eastern block, however, they would not mind foreigners from the west. When immigrants are successful in finding their accommodation, they usually try hard to adjust to the requirements of the landlord. This is why 70 percent of foreigners do not currently have problems with accommodation.
Working on a building site with a university degree
Almost 90 percent of foreigners living in Prague stated that they have secondary or tertiary education, however, only one third of them has their education recognized in the CR. There are many reasons why the others did not have their education recognized. Either they feel that better education does not help in finding a job in Prague, or they cannot afford to have it recognized for financial and time reasons. They have to make money to make ends meet. It often happens that educated foreigners work in a completely different field than that which they studied and therefore their salary does not correspond with their education.
More than two thirds of foreigners get regular wages or have regular income from their enterprise. “Illegal employment is a big issue with below standard conditions from Czech employers, so for 290 hours of work per month, one can get the basic salary of six and a half thousand crowns plus accommodation,” said Petra Kratošková from Poradna Pro Integraci (Advisory Centre for Integration).
A stamp? Wait for four hours or pay
Foreigners reported that they often had to deal with unhelpful state employees. In most cases, there was no reason to complain (social welfare, labour office). The most surprising and most shocking is the foreign police with the non-official employment of a “client” to speed up the process. Such a client takes money for sorting someone’s papers needed for the foreign police.
One of the respondents described the situation as follows: “I was puzzled that there was a queue at the foreign police. Everyone was waiting for a stamp. We waited for about four hours to get a stamp. Those clients that prepare the papers go there as if they went to work. The Foreign Police welcomes it, as they prepare the papers the way they really should be. When an individual comes, there is always something wrong in the papers, something is missing somewhere. The police officer explains but the foreigner does not know what the police officer is asking for. When a client comes with a file full of papers, all of them prepared, it’s great. The police officer takes him or her as his or her co-worker. (…) For 500 CZK they got us stamps within two hours and we did not have to wait there the whole day. This is how they make money.”
Prague is our new home
Although at present most foreigners feel insecure because of bureaucracy and lack of work, almost all of them agree that they do not want to return to their own country or leave for another one. They see Prague as their new home where they see their own future as well as the future of their children.
