What is interesting about the city of Olomouc. Features of life in the east of Prague. How much is the apartment, transport and food. How is the job. How to get a visa and residence permit.

Life in Czech Olomouc

I have been living in the Czech Republic for 12 years, 10 of them in the Olomouc region.

Before moving abroad, I lived in Izhevsk, but after graduating from high school in Russia, in 2008, I entered graduate school at a technical university in Brno, Czech Republic. She defended her dissertation, got married and gave birth to two children – the eldest son is already six years old, and the youngest is three months old.

I am currently on maternity leave, before that I worked as a lecturer at the university in Olomouc. This is a small old town, which is located in the region of Moravia. In this article I will tell you how life is in the Czech outback.

What city

Olomouc is located in the east of the Czech Republic, 280 km from Prague, in the center of the Moravia region. This is one of the oldest cities in the country – it was founded in the 11th century. It is no less beautiful than Prague, but there is no fuss and crowds of tourists.

A little more than a hundred thousand people live in Olomouc, and 632 thousand in the entire Olomouc region. My husband is from Prosteev – this is another town in the region. Now we live in our house, which our husband inherited, in the small village of Polomi. It is located 25 km from Olomouc and has only 250 inhabitants.

In Olomouc, you can find entertainment for every taste. There is everything here, from Chinese, Indian, Ukrainian restaurants to rock festivals, clubs, theaters and a water park.

I advise those people who prefer a calm, measured life to move to Olomouc. On weekends, the city practically dies out, if you do not take into account exhibitions or holidays. Another plus is that less money is circulating in Olomouc than in Prague or Brno, so the prices here are generally lower.

Visas and relocation

I moved to the Czech Republic in 2008 in one of the programs at the University of Brno to get a PhD, which is similar to our PhD. She studied at the Technical University in Brno with a degree in business economics and management.

I had a long-term student visa, which I renewed every year, confirming that I was a graduate student. Education in the Czech Republic is free, but takes place in the Czech language. I started learning it a year before the trip to Izhevsk. Then for another year I went to language courses in Brno, they were paid for by the university.

Postgraduate study usually lasts 3-4 years, you need to defend yourself a maximum of 7 years after admission. I succeeded in 5. I wrote and defended my dissertation in Czech. You can write a paper in English, but you still have to defend it in Czech.

In 2011, while still studying, I started working at the Moravian University of Education in Olomouc, first as an administrative worker, then as a research assistant. At the same time, I married a citizen of the Czech Republic and issued a residence permit on the basis of family reunification.Such a residence permit is issued for 2 years.

In 2013, I received the right to permanent residence in the Czech Republic – permanent residence. Usually it is issued 5 years after the residence permit, but the period is reduced by 2.5 times if you have been married to a Czech citizen for 2 years.

If a person is a student, then the year of study is considered as half a year of stay in the country. By the time I applied for permanent residence, I had already studied for 3 years and worked for 2 years. I was credited all this time as 3.5 years of residence.

At the end of 2019, I applied for citizenship, while I am waiting for a response.

permanent residence. Since I applied for permanent residence on the basis of marriage, I needed a minimum package of documents:

1. Passport.
2. Confirmation of the availability of housing – even a rented apartment will do.
3. Certificate of passing the exam in the Czech language. In my case, it was not needed, since I studied on it.
4. Certificate of registration of marriage.
5. Labor contract.

Sometimes they require a certificate of no criminal record, but they did not ask me for it.

I submitted my documents to the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Přerov, where the long-term stay department of the Olomouc Region is located. There you can arrange an appointment on a specific day and time. My documents were accepted very quickly. There were few visitors compared to the branch in Brno or Prague.

Consideration of applications for permanent residence lasts two months. While they were examining mine, the police came to our village and asked the neighbors if I really live here.

Another option to legally live and work in the Czech Republic for more than three months is to get a blue card called modrá karta. It is issued to highly qualified specialists who already have an employer.

Citizenship. At the end of 2019, I applied for Czech citizenship. There was more trouble with them. You can apply for Czech citizenship after 10 years of stay in the country or after 5 years of permanent residence. Here is the list of documents that I was asked for:

1. Confirmation of the availability of housing in the Czech Republic. If it is removable, you must indicate how much the person pays for it.
2. Proof of source of income.
3. Certificate of no debt on social and medical insurance.
4. Marriage certificate.
5. Birth certificate of children.
6. A diploma of education in the Czech Republic indicating that the training was conducted in Czech to confirm knowledge of the language.
7. Labor contract.
8. Motivation letter.
9. Summary.

state duty for obtaining Czech citizenship

Usually, documents wait in line for about six months. After that, they begin to consider and may be asked for additional information. The decision is made 1-1.5 years after the filing of the application. But in my case, apparently due to the coronavirus pandemic, the process was delayed, and so far there has been no reaction from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Money

The currency of the Czech Republic is the Czech crown, which is divided into 100 hellers. It is denoted by the icon Kč. I am writing this article in August 2020 and one krone costs R3.4.

In the country everywhere pay by cards. Even our village shop has a contactless payment terminal.Cards are not accepted only in small hairdressers or, for example, in car services.

This is what Czech crowns look like: on the bill 100 Kč is the emperor Charles Fourth, 200 Kč – public figure Jan Amos Komensky, for 1000 Kč – politician Frantshek Palace. Source: ZDNK / Shutterstock

Salary and work

The official level of unemployment in the Czech Republic in May 2020 was 3.6%. In the Olomout Territory – 3.5%: without work there were 15 thousand people, open vacancies – about 9 thousand.

The average salary in the Czech Republic in the first quarter of 2020

If I lived alone, I would have enough for a relatively comfortable life. If such an average income is received by two people in the family, then there is enough money to cover all the main expenses, plus it will remain to go to the sea in the summer, and in winter to ski in the mountains.

I work as a teacher at a local university-conducting logistics management, production management and facilitations. After graduate school, it was important for me to find a place in the university. There are only three higher educational institutions in the Olomou Territory. Two are located in the capital of the region – this is the university of Palanitsky and the Moravian Higher School, and in Presherov the Higher School of Logistics is located.

I chose the Moravian Higher School. Firstly, there is my direction-management and logistics. Secondly, it is closer to the house than the Logistics School in Preserov, to which about 40 km. In addition, at my university they are very good at Russians – both students and teachers.

When the child is two years old, he can be given to kindergarten. But he should go there no more than 92 hours a month, otherwise they will take the allowance. They will also be deprived of payments if you start working before the baby turns six months.

According to official figures, foreigners make up 12% of the entire occupied population of the country. Most of these people are visitors from Ukraine, Slovakia and Vietnam. There are still many Russians, Poles, Bulgarians and Romanians. I saw a large number of Ukrainians among foreign workers – they mainly worked as cleaners, movers, builders. Universities of the Olomoutsky Territory produce many foreigners, so you can often find qualified emigrant specialists-teachers, translators, engineers, and leaders of different levels.

Taxes

The main tax that I cry is personal income tax. In addition to hired employees, individual entrepreneurs are obliged to expel it, as well as those who receive income from dividends, renting real estate and the like. Tax rate – 15%.

Benefit for the first child

Czechs submit a tax return for the year. If a person has one job, then the employer's accounting is usually done by this. If there are several sources of income or a taxpayer is an individual entrepreneur, then he will have to submit a declaration on his own.

The legal entity pays income tax – 19%.Among other taxes, I can name VAT, which varies from 10% to 21%, the rate depends on the product or service. Interestingly, draft beer, which is served in catering establishments, is subject to a rate of 12%, and bottled beer in stores is 21%.

annual collection for dogs in Olomouc

Pensions

The retirement age in the Czech Republic depends on the year of birth. Those who were born in the 1940s-1950s retired at 55-60 years old. Gradually, the retirement age was raised. I was born in 1984 and will be able to retire at 65, which is the standard age for those born after 1971. The retirement age for men and women is the same. Previously, for women with children, the retirement period was reduced – they wrote off about four months for each child. Now this is not.

average pension in the Czech Republic in 2020

Some older people continue to work in retirement. For example, in universities, the main number of professors are people over 65 years old. My dissertation supervisor was born in 1945 and still teaches. Science is being tried in every possible way to rejuvenate: for example, in the conditions of grants, the maximum age of the person who applies is indicated.

In our village, some pensioners also work, but not out of boredom, but for the sake of money. For example, they help harvest apples and plums in commercial orchards.

Banks

There are 49 banks in the Czech Republic. Due to high competition, financial institutions are reducing the fees for maintaining an account and other services.

Most banks have applications in which you can not only view the balance, but also transfer money. Some banks allow you to open an account via the Internet, such as MBank, Equa Bank, Air Bank.

Banks often and actively offer credit cards, or authorized debits, this is called povolený debet, or kontokorent. If the account runs out of money, you can take it from the bank. The allowed debit rate is 21.9% per annum. This is an analogue of our overdraft.

The rate on loans is on average 8-10% per annum. In some banks, loans can be obtained online – mainly in those where you are already a client.

Mortgage rate – from 1.7% to 7%. The minimum down payment is 10-20% of the property value, depending on the bank.

It is easy for a foreigner to open an account in the Czech Republic: the bank only needs a passport with a visa. It took me about half an hour.

I also have an account with MBank, the service there is free.

Housing and utilities

In the Czech Republic, there are many sites for finding accommodation, but the largest is Sreality. Here you can not only rent, but also buy an apartment in all cities of the Czech Republic.

Owners almost always write a lease, at least when it comes to long-term rentals. Usually they ask to pay immediately for two months – the first and last.

I like the house: it has a lot of space, close to nature. Minus one – it is far from civilization.

we pay utility bills monthly

We pay for the entire communal apartment through the Internet bank on a prepaid basis.Once a year, in May-June, they recalculate: if there is an overpayment, then it is returned, if it turns out that we owe something, we must pay extra.

One of the requirements of the European Union is to increase the share of communal garbage processing in the country to 65% by 2035. Now this figure is about 40%. In our village there are separate garbage tanks for white and dark glass, as well as for paper.

Once every six months – in the spring and autumn – a car with a container for bulky debris and electrical appliances arrives. In a neighboring village there is a tank for old textiles.

We try to sort garbage and, if possible, dispose of. Separately collect paper: it can be burned. The remains of food go to compost. For a week, one large package is typed in a regular garbage – including the used diapers and filler for a cat toilet.

Transport

Olomouc is a small city, but traffic jams periodically occur on local roads – usually this happens at the beginning of the week. But they quickly disappear: the movement is normalized in a maximum of half an hour. The longest time that I stood in traffic is 20 minutes. Repair work was carried out on the road, and at the same time an accident occurred.

Traffic jams also occur on the highway from our village-mainly due to accidents or a large number of cars, for example, before Christmas.

In the Czech Republic, it is necessary to skip cars with flashing lights – the cars of ordinary citizens should be lined up with a Christmas tree to free the ambulance or police. If you do not give way to a special vehicle, they can not only be fined, but also bring to administrative responsibility. For this, police, fire and ambulance cars are equipped with cameras.

A travel ticket in Olomouce is operating

Accidents and work of insurance. Citroen C5 is my third car for almost 6 years of driver’s experience. Before that, they broke the car twice, and both times not through my fault. In total, I had three accidents here. I'll tell you how the insurance works in the Czech Republic.

First, the police draw up a protocol, and after that an expert from the insurance comes to the victim. He assesses the damage. This amount is compared with the market price of the car. If it is lower than the cost of the car, then the client is offered either to pay money – then you need to look for a service for repairs yourself, or contact a partner workshop, whose work will pay for the insurance.

In the last accident, my car was badly damaged, and the cost of repair exceeded the price of the car. The insurance company found the buyer for the remains of my car and paid me the difference between its market value before the accident and the amount that the scrap metal collector paid to me.

The medicine

Foreigners can interact with the insurance company in two ways. If a person has permanent residence or employer in the Czech Republic, then insurance payments for his treatment immediately pays for his treatment. If there is no permanent residence and employer in the Czech Republic, he is treated at his own expense, and the insurance then pays him compensation.This is called commercial insurance – Komerční pojištění.

Foreigners without permanent resources working as individual entrepreneurs and foreigners who have lost their jobs during pregnancy, they themselves must pay insurance and treatment bills.

Commercial insurance can be of two types.

It is worth putting the seal for my insurance

An ambulance at the hospital took me to the hospital – it was free. We rode without flashing lights, but quickly. This service is also used by pensioners who cannot get to the hospital themselves, but they need to get to the doctor.

I lay three times in a Czech hospital. Twice it was childbirth, I will talk about them further.

I can positively evaluate the work of Czech nurses. They do not require surcharges for maintenance, for example, bedridden patients. Nurses can always be found, they often come to the ward, communicate with relatives, try to alleviate the patient's condition. When my father -in -law lay for several months in a long -term intensive care unit in Presov, the nurses themselves asked to bring a photo and relatives for him and carried him to the street in a stroller, although this was not their duties.

The disadvantage of Czech medicine is the chaotic behavior of some doctors in non -standard situations. For example, after discharge from the hospital, a blood clot formed on my leg. The therapist sent me to an ambulance. There Ibalgin ointment was discharged. A week later, when the thrombus increased, in an ambulance they decided for almost three hours what to do with me: what kind of medicine to thin blood, given that I was breastfeeding. As a result, Klexans were prescribed, and I pricked it for myself for two months.

From colds, adults are most often prescribed “parane”, and children are “Nurofen” or “Panadol”. I did not have to drink antibiotics here, but they were written out by my son after a blood test and examination, when his throat hurt a lot and had a high temperature.

My children were born in the Czech Republic, so I can tell in detail about pregnancy, childbirth and primary education in the country.

I paid for pregnancy

Near the department for the women in labor is the department for newborns. The child is given to mothers already on the day of childbirth, however, not for long. But from the second day he is constantly near the woman. In the usual ward are two or three women in labor. Children are in special boxes on wheels, each child is fixed by a sensor that controls the breath.

Doctors and nurses come to mom and child several times a day. They write out, as a rule, on the fourth and fifth day. After that, you need to contact the selected pediatrician, and within a few days he will come to your home. The advice of Czech doctors differ from Russian. For example, they advise washing newborns only a couple of times a week, and in water with olive oil. During the first 12 weeks of life, a child should give vitamin K every week and daily up to a year – by a drop of Vigantol, this is Vitamin D3.

When the child is spent a month and a half, he is sent for a mandatory inspection to the orthopedist. The doctor advised all the children of my friends and my youngest son for a month to wear special orthopedic diapers to fix the legs. Here these tips of orthopedists are very popular. Some mothers and without consultation swaddle children with wide -diluted legs – this is called Široké Balení. To do this, they put on the diaper one or two gauze diapers so that the baby’s legs are placed as wide as possible.

In the village gardens, everything is easier. There are few children, they take everyone without interviews.

A year before entering school, all children should attend kindergarten – this is necessary to prepare for the first class and social adaptation.

The child’s food in kindergarten per day is worth

In general, I was satisfied with everyone: in the kindergarten my son was prepared for school, he went there with pleasure. The only drawback is that children of all ages are in the same group, since the garden is small.

I liked that the educators did not let children's conflicts on the groove: for example, they detached fights. But there is another side of the coin. For a child, it is considered the right to inform the teacher about any problem. If the baby was pushed, called or taken away, he immediately goes to complain. We had to explain to our son that we must first try to resolve the conflict on our own.

School. The school education system consists of two levels: first, a 9 -year -old child studies at a comprehensive school, then another 3 years in secondary. After the general education, he chooses where he will go further. At the end of high school, you can pass the final state exam – Maturita. It is optional and required only if you need to go to the university. Secondary education can be obtained and without passing such an exam: for example, if you study on a hairdresser, a car mechanic, a carpenter, and so on.

In 2020, my son went to first grade. When entering the Czech school, the child does not need to be able to read and write: this is taught in primary grades. The main thing is that the children are independent, they can concentrate and speak clearly.

They take the school on the basis of an interview with the child: they ask something to count, collect a puzzle, draw a person, tell a fairy tale. In 2020, they were not carried out because of the coronavirus-it was enough just to write a statement.

There are a problem in rural schools – a small number of children. Therefore, often different classes learn together, for example, the second and fourth or third and fifth. Some praise this system, but I treat it negatively. Therefore, we chose a school in the city, and not in nearby villages.

We pay for school per year

Products and food

In the Czech Republic, it is not customary to prepare a full dinner every evening – the maximum sausages will be cooked here or sandwiches will make. Kedliki are very popular – in fact it is a white roll, steamed. It is served with a walk, meat and cabbage.

Czechs love meat very much.There are a lot of fat in their national cuisine: it is added instead of oil to goulash and pies. It is extremely incredulous here – at least my family and acquaintances – belong to traditional Russian salads like a herring under a fur coat. Firstly, due to the abundance of mayonnaise, and secondly, because incompatible products are mixed in them-rice and crab sticks or beets and herring. The Czechs consider the addition of mayonnaise to dishes that will be baked, for example, in French meat in French.

In the performance of the Czechs, the salad is made either from fresh vegetables or with pasta – this is called Testovinovñ Salát, pasta salad.

But there are Russian dishes that are popular with Chekhov. For example, sweet pies are made here. The relatives appreciated my baking with meat and potatoes, they also liked borsch.

My habits in food in the Czech Republic have changed a lot. Now I calmly belong to warm acidic cabbage – it is served with meat and fuckers as part of a side dish or added to the soup. Dumplings, salads with mayonnaise, fish, pies that I often ate in Izhevsk, I now eat very rarely.

The largest gastronomic changes are associated with the festive table, especially the New Year. It is not customary to make salads and hotter here – they mainly serve only cold snacks: sandwiches, fruit, vegetable, cheese and sausage cuts. There are advantages in this: during the holidays, I do not need to spend several days in the kitchen.

The New Year's feast itself is also different from Russian traditions. Older people sit in front of the TV and quietly eat sandwiches, and youth companies are not gathering at the table, but organize a buffet and turn on music or come up with other options for active pastime. Families with young children arrange a small fireworks in the evening, and then watch fairy tales, communicate, play, gradually eating sandwiches.

There are many small grocery stores in the city, but I prefer large supermarkets: there are more discounts and more conveniently buy products for a week. In addition, parking on a large platform is easier than on a small one.

The city has supermarkets of several networks – these are Tesko, Lidl, Albert, Penny and Globus. I am mostly purchased at the Globe: the easiest way to get there is, and I also like their purchases using hand scanners – do not stand in line and lay out products on the tape. A similar system is in Tesko.