Prague - More than 1,700 foreigners living in the Czech Republic have asked the state for a free air ticket and a EUR 500 allowance and decided to return home since the government launched the programme four months ago.
According to the Interior Ministry, the sum that the state earmarked for the programme of voluntary departure of 2,000 foreigners would be withdrawn within two months.
On 4 May the government therefore provided the ministry with money to finance the return of a further 2,000 foreigners to their home countries. In the second wave, however, the "pocket money" will decrease to EUR 300.
50% of applicants are Mongolians
Interior Ministry statistics show that 1,670 foreigners flew to their native countries as of 26 June, of the total of 1,711 who have applied for the programme.
"The biggest demand for registration in the project persists on the part of Mongolian nationals. Other major groups are Uzbek and Vietnamese nationals, and then Ukrainian citizens to a lower extent," Interior Ministry spokesman Vladimír Řepka said.
After the initial wave of interest in the programme, the number of applications is gradually declining. It may be so due to the beginning of seasonal work.
"We expect that the limit for applications set for the first stage of the project should be withdrawn within two months," Řepka said. "The terms of registration remain unchanged. But the financial contribution we provide decreased to EUR 300 for adults and EUR 150 for children up to 15 years," he added.
Program for "illegals"
In the second half of the year, the ministry wants to launch a program of voluntary departures for those foreigners who are staying in the Czech Republic illegally. Řepka did not disclose details, but said the ministry wanted to start an information campaign soon.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a similar departures programme to that in the Czech Republic also exists in Great Britain.
"We think it helps foreigners," Jakub Švec of IOM said. "In the instant they come to us, the worst, that means the loss of a job, is mostly over for them. The offer of a voluntary return is then only an asset for them," he added.
The objective of the voluntary departure project, according to the ministry, is to secure the possibility to return to a home country to foreigners who lost their job in connection with the crisis. "Voluntary returns are offered in particular as a measure aimed to prevent them from possibly falling into illegality and then facing forced deportation," ministry spokesman Řepka said.
According to May data, there is a total of 444,000 foreigners in the Czech Republic. Most of them, more than 134,000, are from Ukraine, almost 78,000 from Slovakia and more than 61,000 from Vietnam.
But it is the Vietnamese on whom the government programme has had no effect, according to many experts. The reason is that many Vietnamese put their whole families at home into debt to be able to travel to the Czech Republic, and that is why they are refusing to return home.
While more than 1,100 Mongolians returned home of those 6,800 living in the Czech Republic (that is, around 16% of their whole community), only 198 of 61,000 Vietnamese have taken advantage of the offer (some 0.3% of the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic).
Adapted by the Prague Daily Monitor.
