German-based multinationals that rely on the Czech Consulate in Dresden have been hit by an abrupt ‘zero-quota’ on ordinary employee-card and long-term business-visa appointments. Effective retroactively from 10 January, weekly capacity has fallen from around 120 interview slots to fewer than 20, with the remainder reserved for government talent-programme candidates and a narrow list of preferred nationalities.
Czech officials blame staff redeployments to handle a surge in family-reunification and protection cases processed in neighbouring Germany. Immigration advisers see another motive: Berlin has become a staging post for non-EU contractors who enter the Schengen Area on German short-stay visas and commute to Czech client sites, skirting local labour-market tests.
The immediate impact is logistical. Employees who once drove 45 minutes for biometrics must now book in Prague, Vienna or Warsaw, adding travel days, hotel costs and translation fees.
![Czech Consulate in Dresden halts most employee-card and business-visa slots]()
Relocation providers warn that onboarding dates could slip six to eight weeks unless companies secure alternative appointments or convert short-term stays into in-country filings.
Amid this uncertainty, VisaHQ’s Germany desk can shoulder much of the administrative load. Through its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), the firm tracks appointment openings across Czech consulates, arranges courier runs for notarised degrees, and pre-screens candidates for talent-programme eligibility—giving HR managers a single window instead of juggling multiple embassies.
HR teams are advised to audit all Visapoint bookings made after 2 January, budget extra time for degree legalisation, and monitor the Czech Foreign Ministry’s 31 January review, when quotas may be tweaked again. Some firms are exploring remote-work bridges or shifting projects back to German sites until visa pipelines reopen.
Longer term, Prague’s squeeze may funnel applications through talent programmes it can better control, signalling a harder line on commuter assignments that exploit Schengen free movement. (visahq.com)
Czech officials blame staff redeployments to handle a surge in family-reunification and protection cases processed in neighbouring Germany. Immigration advisers see another motive: Berlin has become a staging post for non-EU contractors who enter the Schengen Area on German short-stay visas and commute to Czech client sites, skirting local labour-market tests.
The immediate impact is logistical. Employees who once drove 45 minutes for biometrics must now book in Prague, Vienna or Warsaw, adding travel days, hotel costs and translation fees.
Relocation providers warn that onboarding dates could slip six to eight weeks unless companies secure alternative appointments or convert short-term stays into in-country filings.
Amid this uncertainty, VisaHQ’s Germany desk can shoulder much of the administrative load. Through its online platform (https://www.visahq.com/germany/), the firm tracks appointment openings across Czech consulates, arranges courier runs for notarised degrees, and pre-screens candidates for talent-programme eligibility—giving HR managers a single window instead of juggling multiple embassies.
HR teams are advised to audit all Visapoint bookings made after 2 January, budget extra time for degree legalisation, and monitor the Czech Foreign Ministry’s 31 January review, when quotas may be tweaked again. Some firms are exploring remote-work bridges or shifting projects back to German sites until visa pipelines reopen.
Longer term, Prague’s squeeze may funnel applications through talent programmes it can better control, signalling a harder line on commuter assignments that exploit Schengen free movement. (visahq.com)
