Hello everyone! I originally posted this in r/IWantOut, but I thought that perhaps we’d get more insight more actual Czechs here. We’re a Chilean couple looking to immigrate to the EU, specifically to the Czech Republic, due to health reasons. We were hoping you could help us get some guidance on the best way to do so.
I’m (27M) a psychologist with a master’s degree in organisational psychology, have over 1 year experience in HR and currently working semi-remotely for a multinational tech corporation here in Chile. I speak Spanish and English fluently (Native and C2), and I’m learning German and Czech (ale mam malou slovní zasobu \^\^;).
Fiancée (27F) is in the process of graduating from her master’s degree in strategic communications, but has been working remotely for a Chilean real estate company, leading the marketing team, for almost a year. She speaks Spanish and some English.
She has [cystic fibrosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis) but is quite healthy. Even considering her condition and [mutation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis_transmembrane_conductance_regulator#DeltaF508), you couldn’t tell she was sick if you interacted with her, but the public health systemhere is *severely* lacking (e.g., she doesn’t get most of her basic medications, they offer no physiotherapy, the nurses and doctors constantly mess up her medications during hospitalisation, didn’t put her in an isolated room during the pandemic, and she got COVID as soon as she got hospitalised this year, something we had managed to avoid for over two years with aggressive masking, hygiene, etc.).
I was in Prague for a year during 2020 with the Working Holiday Visa, but had to return to Chile in 2021 because of the pandemic, so I’m familiar with what the style of living and daily costs are (I regularly check akcniceny.cz to keep myself updated), and I made a lot of acquaintances while I was there. The main reason we’re looking to move to the Czech Republic is because the Czech public health system gives last-gen drugs to tax payers, [even if they are foreigners](https://en.vzp.cz/information/healthcare-for-foreigners), which would extend my fiancées’ life expectancy (currently 8 years old) and wouldn’t require her to be hospitalised every year.
I’m aware of [UřadPrace](https://www.uradprace.cz/web/en/job-offers-suitable-for-foreigners), but from what I’ve gathered with former employers and Poradna Pro Integraci, these vacancies are mostly a formality for positions that have already been filled, so they’re not very useful.
If all goes well, we should have saved over $13,000(\~35.00Kč) by December 2023, which is the soonest we’re looking to emigrate from Chile.
With all that said, any help would be deeply appreciated. Thanks in advance!
8 comments
If your concern is finding a job, have a look at jobs.cz. Large corporations advertise there and they’re more likely to help you with all the formalities.
This might be a stupid question, but have you considered moving to Spain? They have an easier immigration process for South Americans than other EU countries and their healthcare system is really good, as far as I can tell.
Best of luck to you!
Please keep in mind we have a corrupt insurance system and as foreigners you are only able to use one of the shittiest private insurance companies that bribed themselves to a monopoly contract on foreigners.
https://www.vzp.cz/
Last gen drug for cystic fibrosis costs around 300.000 EUR per year. If your fiance manages to immigrate to Czechia, it will be very expensive for local tax-payers.
She must get a job, so she can be participating in public insurance (so no family member visa path), because private insurance will definitely not cover anything expensive. Your problem is that your degrees are definitely not immigration friendly (can be easily filled by locals, which is easier for companies), but it is probably still worth a shot. Definitely don’t search through Úřad práce – employers only advertise there because it is compulsory before they can hire any foreigner, no one ever found job this way. Try startupjobs.cz or jobs.cz
The problem will be, that unlike Czech citizen she will be dependent on keeping that job, so she cannot afford to piss off employer (for example by too many medical absences) so he decides to not extend the contract.
I think you chose a good country when it comes to public healthcare (even though many Czechs would say otherwise because they have no idea how bad it could be in other countries), but your fiancee needs to learn fluent English and ideally at least a bit of Czech. If you want healthcare, SHE needs to have a job with a czech company, and I can’t really imagine getting a job here without speaking fluent English (or Czech or maybe fluent German).
Are you sure the health insurance will cover help for you? I might be wrong but the health insurance didn’t cover for any preliminary (pre-existing) conditions to the time of the entry to the public health insurance system.
The Úřad práce (job office) offer less positions than [jobs.cz](https://jobs.cz) or other websites. Also to work as a foreigner the emplyer should have a blue card (special kind of permit by headquaeters of Úřed práce I think) for designated position, which means he tried to find a czech citizen, but it failed so he had to open that position for a foreigner. It could work better for international companies, since they often looks for people native spanish/english speakers etc. But your field of work is complicating that.
For the health insurance if she can’t work, she can apply for a pension, in that case the health insurance would be paid for her by the state. But I have to be honest it is complicated even for Czechs and as far as I know that country of origin has to have some international contract with Czech Republic where are described details how it works.
I don’t have enough knowledge to give you any advice, just wishing you luck your goal works!
I know CF care is really good here.