Czech confirmation of work experience

How to obtain confirmation/certificate of work experience from the Czech Republic

Unfortunately, the Czech Republic does not have a unified registry containing information about every employee, their places of employment, and work periods. The Czech Republic does not use the system of “work record books” commonly found in many Russian-speaking countries, which track an individual's employment history. Therefore, to obtain this document, you must either request it directly from your former employer or indirectly through various Czech government authorities where the employee was required to be registered during the employment.

Employment confirmation from organization or employer

In the Czech Republic, confirmation of employment and work experience is typically provided directly by employers. There is no official format – it may be an informally written certificate, a recommendation letter, or an extract from the company’s internal electronic records. Since information contained in such documents varies and there is no standardized form, employees can discuss with their employer what information to include.

Such certificates are signed directly by the management of the company where the person was employed, which highlights their main limitation: these documents are issued by private organizations, not official government authorities. This leads to an important question: where do you plan to use this document, and what are the requirements of the institution where you will submit it? Essentially, this certificate is just a statement from a private individual, and the information it contains cannot be officially verified. While this document may be suitable as a recommendation for a future employer, it is often insufficient for formal procedures.

It's important to note that even as a private document, it can usually be apostilled. To do this, the certificate must first be authenticated by the Czech Chamber of Commerce.

Employment confirmation from Czech government authorities

For formal procedures (such as residency applications abroad), most institutions require an official certificate issued by Czech government authorities. As previously mentioned, the problem is that there is no centralized national registry containing this employment data and issuing such certificates.

In this case, it is possible to contact public institutions where employees must be legally registered upon employment. The key authority is the Czech Social Security Administration (Czech: Česká správa sociálního zabezpečení). Under Czech law, employers must register all formal employees with this institution and make monthly contributions from their salary for their pension and social security insurance.

The Social Security Administration is an official government organization. You can get a statement of pension insurance (Czech: informativní osobní list důchodového pojištění), which shows an individual's work history. As a document issued by a state authority, it is considered far more reliable than one from a private company.

Please note that this document is ONLY available if the person was legally employed under a proper employment contract.

To obtain the document, you need to apply at the regional Social Security office where the employee was registered (check the employer's registered legal address to find the corresponding office). You can apply yourself, or a third party can do it for you with a notarized power of attorney. You can also apply using your personal Datová schránka if you have one.