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This is very interesting. Would you mind commenting about how immigration/visas/residency have worked for you in Czechia? Or even about how you found the job at

This is very interesting. Would you mind commenting about how immigration/visas/residency have worked for you in Czechia? Or even about how you found the job at all? I hope this isn't too strange: I read a bit of your "write only" blog (so it isn't!). (Congratulations on fatherhood and condolences about the bike crash. (Seems strange to know these things about a stranger, but there you go.)) So I saw that part of this is resolved by having Irish citizenship. That grants you freedom of movement throughout the EU. I'm assuming you started out with UK citizenship though, so I'm curious how you added Irish, and then what, besides the Irish citizenship, was necessary to live/work in Czechia. To me it sounds like a wonderful success -- you have made your escape!

lproven 3y ago
Ha, that is funny! :-D Well, that's what the blog etc. are there for! And thanks for the wishes and kind words... I sold my 2nd book -- on Kindle, and now deleted, sadly -- in 2012 and it paid for me to get a qualification as a TEFL teacher. I figured I'd rent my house out, go travelling, and maybe do a little writing on the side. I wouldn't make much but it would be fun and interesting. At 45, I concluded my career in tech was over. I told a friend at a party, and she told me her then new employer was hiring. I looked, and they were -- but in Brno. She referred me, I got it, and that's how I got there. That role didn't work out -- clash with company culture -- but immediately afterwards I had multiple competing offers of roles. That was a career first for me. I had a couple of other jobs, one permie, one a contract plus renewal, before a role in Prague came up and I moved there for that. Turned out to be my longest time in one role in my career to date. When I moved to Brno I was an EU citizen so no paperwork was needed. Because of Brexit, I ceased to be. My late father was born in Northern Ireland, so he was a British citizen his whole life, but via him I was able to claim Irish citizenship. It took some fighting with bureaucracy but it worked. I suspect he wouldn't approve but he died over 30 years ago, so he gets no say in the matter. After I lived there 5 years, I was able to get official permanent residence in Czechia, again facilitated by being an EU citizen. I've not needed to pass any language exams or anything for this, although my Czech is now somewhere between A2 and B1 level -- beginner-to-intermediate level. Post Brexit and things, the Czech government has made it a lot harder and to do it now I'd need to pass language competency tests. It was all fairly easy, really. There are agencies you can hire to help with the paperwork, and in dealing with officialdom in Czech, and it's not that expensive to do so. Sadly, for now, I don't live there any more, but I still own my home there and plan to return.
- FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
  Thanks for the reply! Sounds like family background (for Irish and hence EU citizenship) and timing (before more restrictive Czech laws) worked out well in your case. Also sounds like it's harder today. But maybe with dedication, and by working with an agency (as you suggest) it's still possible. And as the first job you mentioned (in Brno) demonstrates, personal networks are also very important. The TEFL idea is also interesting as a "retirement job", even if in the end you found other opportunities. All food for thought.
  - lproven 3y ago
    Of course it is much harder for Brits today, because of Brexit. But I met people working in Czechia from all over the world, from far outside the EU. It is still perfectly doable. There are companies and free services which will help you. Brits looking to go abroad, I suspect, look (or looked) first at Western Europe. It's close, it's familiar from holidays and so on. There is a perception that Eastern Europe is poor and deprived and there's nothing to go there for. (Sorry to my many Czech friends: to the rest of the world, Czechoslovakia is Eastern, even though it's west of Austria. Czechs like it to be called Central Europe.) This is not true. It is a land of opportunity at present, with lots of foreigners there for work. There are lots of jobs and a need for workers with foreign languages, and far less ageism than in the West. BUT salaries are low. It doesn't look appealing on paper. It should be, because the cost of living is very low in most ways, so a small paycheque goes a long way, but a salary in Brno of 1/2 to 1/3 of Berlin looks bad... but the cost of living is 1/3 to 1/4 so in fact it's a good deal. This is equally true of and for Americans. And they'll get healthcare and people don't have guns.

lproven 3y ago

Ha, that is funny! :-D Well, that's what the blog etc. are there for! And thanks for the wishes and kind words... I sold my 2nd book -- on Kindle, and now deleted, sadly -- in 2012 and it paid for me to get a qualification as a TEFL teacher. I figured I'd rent my house out, go travelling, and maybe do a little writing on the side. I wouldn't make much but it would be fun and interesting. At 45, I concluded my career in tech was over. I told a friend at a party, and she told me her then new employer was hiring. I looked, and they were -- but in Brno. She referred me, I got it, and that's how I got there. That role didn't work out -- clash with company culture -- but immediately afterwards I had multiple competing offers of roles. That was a career first for me. I had a couple of other jobs, one permie, one a contract plus renewal, before a role in Prague came up and I moved there for that. Turned out to be my longest time in one role in my career to date. When I moved to Brno I was an EU citizen so no paperwork was needed. Because of Brexit, I ceased to be. My late father was born in Northern Ireland, so he was a British citizen his whole life, but via him I was able to claim Irish citizenship. It took some fighting with bureaucracy but it worked. I suspect he wouldn't approve but he died over 30 years ago, so he gets no say in the matter. After I lived there 5 years, I was able to get official permanent residence in Czechia, again facilitated by being an EU citizen. I've not needed to pass any language exams or anything for this, although my Czech is now somewhere between A2 and B1 level -- beginner-to-intermediate level. Post Brexit and things, the Czech government has made it a lot harder and to do it now I'd need to pass language competency tests. It was all fairly easy, really. There are agencies you can hire to help with the paperwork, and in dealing with officialdom in Czech, and it's not that expensive to do so. Sadly, for now, I don't live there any more, but I still own my home there and plan to return.

FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
Thanks for the reply! Sounds like family background (for Irish and hence EU citizenship) and timing (before more restrictive Czech laws) worked out well in your case. Also sounds like it's harder today. But maybe with dedication, and by working with an agency (as you suggest) it's still possible. And as the first job you mentioned (in Brno) demonstrates, personal networks are also very important. The TEFL idea is also interesting as a "retirement job", even if in the end you found other opportunities. All food for thought.
- lproven 3y ago
  Of course it is much harder for Brits today, because of Brexit. But I met people working in Czechia from all over the world, from far outside the EU. It is still perfectly doable. There are companies and free services which will help you. Brits looking to go abroad, I suspect, look (or looked) first at Western Europe. It's close, it's familiar from holidays and so on. There is a perception that Eastern Europe is poor and deprived and there's nothing to go there for. (Sorry to my many Czech friends: to the rest of the world, Czechoslovakia is Eastern, even though it's west of Austria. Czechs like it to be called Central Europe.) This is not true. It is a land of opportunity at present, with lots of foreigners there for work. There are lots of jobs and a need for workers with foreign languages, and far less ageism than in the West. BUT salaries are low. It doesn't look appealing on paper. It should be, because the cost of living is very low in most ways, so a small paycheque goes a long way, but a salary in Brno of 1/2 to 1/3 of Berlin looks bad... but the cost of living is 1/3 to 1/4 so in fact it's a good deal. This is equally true of and for Americans. And they'll get healthcare and people don't have guns.