Egyptian farmhands hoping to pick apples in Moravia next spring had only minutes to secure an appointment after the Czech Embassy in Cairo quietly activated its on-line booking calendar on 21 November – and shut it down again six hours later. The embassy accepted just five complete applications, filling the entire November quota for Egypt, before the system went dark at 16:00 local time.
The flash opening, confirmed by the embassy on 26 November, is part of Prague’s effort to “spread limited processing capacity evenly through the year” after walk-in filings for the popular Employee Card were cancelled in July. Seasonal-work visas allow non-EU nationals to live and work in Czechia for up to nine months in agriculture, hospitality and logistics. With unemployment at a record-low 2.7 percent and Christmas demand looming, Czech producers say the micro-quota barely scratches the surface: fruit growers alone estimate a shortfall of 2,000 pickers.
![Czech Embassy in Cairo opens six-hour micro-quota for seasonal-work visas]()
For mobility managers the episode is a cautionary tale. Quotas for third-country nationals are now so tight that a single missed alert can derail a production schedule. Employers are turning to third-party notification services, Telegram groups and even paid “slot hunters” to monitor embassy booking portals in North Africa and South Asia.
The embassy insists that more slots will appear in mid-December, but has not said how many or for how long. Companies should therefore prepare complete visa files in advance and authorise trusted agents in Cairo to click the moment the calendar goes live.
At policy level, Czech business groups are lobbying the incoming government to double the seasonal-worker quota in 2026 and to allow group applications submitted by accredited employers, arguing that ad-hoc micro-windows undermine legal migration channels and push workers toward irregular brokers.
The flash opening, confirmed by the embassy on 26 November, is part of Prague’s effort to “spread limited processing capacity evenly through the year” after walk-in filings for the popular Employee Card were cancelled in July. Seasonal-work visas allow non-EU nationals to live and work in Czechia for up to nine months in agriculture, hospitality and logistics. With unemployment at a record-low 2.7 percent and Christmas demand looming, Czech producers say the micro-quota barely scratches the surface: fruit growers alone estimate a shortfall of 2,000 pickers.
For mobility managers the episode is a cautionary tale. Quotas for third-country nationals are now so tight that a single missed alert can derail a production schedule. Employers are turning to third-party notification services, Telegram groups and even paid “slot hunters” to monitor embassy booking portals in North Africa and South Asia.
The embassy insists that more slots will appear in mid-December, but has not said how many or for how long. Companies should therefore prepare complete visa files in advance and authorise trusted agents in Cairo to click the moment the calendar goes live.
At policy level, Czech business groups are lobbying the incoming government to double the seasonal-worker quota in 2026 and to allow group applications submitted by accredited employers, arguing that ad-hoc micro-windows undermine legal migration channels and push workers toward irregular brokers.
