Can I get maternity and parental benefits without permanent residence?

Quick overview

Permanent residence is not always a prerequisite for all “maternity and parental” entitlements. Maternity allowance is mainly based on participation in sickness insurance under Section 32 of the Sickness Insurance Act, not on permanent residence. Parental allowance, on the other hand, is a state social support benefit and for foreigners is assessed according to Section 3 of the State Social Support Act, where the Act provides for both foreigners with permanent residence and selected groups of foreigners without permanent residence, such as holders of an employee card, a blue card or persons whose entitlement derives from directly applicable EU regulations. Maternity and parental leave are employment law institutes under Sections 195 and 196 of the Labour Code and are settled between the employee and the employer.

Maternity leave, maternity allowance and parental allowance are not the same thing

First of all, it is necessary to separate three different institutes which are often lumped together in common parlance.

Maternity leave is leave granted to an employee in connection with the birth and care of her newborn child. According to Article 195 of the Labour Code, it lasts, as a rule, 28 weeks, or 37 weeks in the case of the birth of two or more children, and is taken from the beginning of the sixth week before the expected date of birth, but not earlier than the beginning of the eighth week before that date. It is therefore an institution of labour law, not a benefit.

By contrast,maternity allowance is a sickness insurance benefit. It is governed by Section 32 et seq. of the Sickness Insurance Act. Under Section 37 of the Sickness Insurance Act, the amount of the benefit is 70 % of the daily assessment base. Entitlement is therefore not automatic for every pregnant woman, but only for those who meet the statutory conditions for insurance.

Parental leave is againa leave of absence under Section 196 of the Labour Code. It is granted by the employer on written request to the mother after maternity leave and to the father from the birth of the child, up to a maximum age of 3 years. This is important: parental leave in the employment law sense does not automatically last until the child is 4 years old.

Parental allowance is a separate state social assistance benefit. It is not identical to parental leave and is dealt with under the State Social Support Act, not the Labour Code.

Is a foreign woman without permanent residence entitled to maternity allowance?

Often yes, but not because she is “entitled like any other mother”. The decisive factor is participation in sickness insurance.

According to Section 32(2) of the Sickness Insurance Act, the basic condition for entitlement to maternity benefits is participation in sickness insurance for at least 270 calendar days in the last 2 years before the start of maternity benefits. For a self-employed person, an additional condition under Section 32(3) of the Sickness Insurance Act applies, namely participation in insurance as a self-employed person for at least 180 calendar days in the last year prior to entitlement to the benefit.

This leads to a fundamental conclusion: permanent residence is not in itself a condition for maternity benefits. The key issue is whether the woman is covered by sickness insurance in the Czech Republic and whether she meets the statutory periods of insurance. This may also apply to a foreign woman without permanent residence if she works in an occupation here that gives rise to participation in sickness insurance or pays sickness insurance as a self-employed person.

In practice, this means that a holder of an employee card or a blue card can qualify for maternity benefits if she works legally here and meets the conditions for sickness insurance. However, the residence title alone does not automatically confer entitlement; the insurance is decisive.

What about the protection period

A woman can become entitled to maternity allowance even after her employment ends if she starts receiving the benefit during the protection period.

The Sickness Insurance Act does indeed work with a protection period, but it cannot be simplified to the sentence that “it is always 180 days”. For a pregnant woman, the protection period can be up to 180 calendar days, but if the insured employment lasted for a shorter period, the protection period lasts only as many calendar days as the last employment. This is very important in practice, especially for women who have only worked in the Czech Republic for a short period of time.

What if a woman does not meet the conditions for maternity allowance

If a woman does not meet the conditions for maternity allowance, this does not automatically mean that she will be left without any benefit. Sick pay may be an option if the conditions of temporary incapacity for work are met, or later parental allowance if the conditions of the State Social Assistance Act are met. However, this will have to be assessed on an individual basis according to the particular residence and work status.

In practice, we encounter, for example, a situation where a foreigner has been working in the Czech Republic for too short a period of time and has not fulfilled the 270 days of sickness insurance under Section 32(2) of the Sickness Insurance Act. In such a case, the entitlement to maternity allowance will not arise, but the path to parental allowance may still be open.

Is a foreign woman without permanent residence entitled to parental allowance?

The answer here is more complicated than for maternity allowance. Parental allowance is a state social support benefit and the range of eligible persons is regulated by Section 3 of the Act on State Social Support.

The basic rule in Section 3(1) of the State Social Support Act states that benefits are due, subject to other conditions, to persons who have permanent residence and domicile in the Czech Republic. At the same time, however, the law also lists a number of situations in Section 3(2) and (3) of the State Social Support Act in which foreigners without permanent residence may also be eligible. These include, for example:

• holders of an employment card under Section 3(2)(h) of the State Social Support Act,
• holders of a blue card under Section 3(2)(g) of the State Social Support Act,
• selected foreigners with a long-term residence permit,
• persons whose entitlement results from directly applicable European Union regulations pursuant to Section 3(2)(l) of the State Social Support Act,
• and, for parental allowance, persons with an intra-corporate transfer card pursuant to Section 3(3) of the State Social Support Act.

This means that, yes, in some cases, parental allowance can be obtained without permanent residence, but only if the foreign woman falls into one of the statutory categories or if her entitlement arises from European Union law.

What is the status of EU nationals

For EU citizens, it is more accurate to refer to Section 3(2)(l) of the State Social Support Act, which explicitly takes into account persons whose entitlement derives from directly applicable EU legislation and persons who are employed, self-employed, retain such status and their family members who are entitled to equal treatment under EU legislation. In addition, the residence condition shall not apply to these persons.

Thus, for EU citizens, it is not only the residence status under Czech law that is at issue, but also the rules of social security coordination in the European Union. In practice, this means that their situation is often more favourable than that of third-country nationals, but the specific work and family situation must always be assessed.

What the Employment Card and Blue Card mean

An employment card is a type of long-term residence permit for employment purposes under the Aliens Act. The Blue Card is a special type of long-term residence intended for highly skilled employment. The Act on Residence of Foreigners further regulates their duration and regime, including rules for changing employer or job assignment. For the purposes of the parental allowance, it is essential that the holders of these cards are among the persons explicitly listed in Section 3(2) of the Act on State Social Support.

How to apply for parental allowance

An application for parental allowance is submitted to the regional branch of the Labour Office. Section 2a of the Act on State Social Support explicitly states that the authorities of state social support are the Labour Office of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The application must be accompanied by identification data, documents relating to the child and, depending on the circumstances, the residence status and other documents requested by the authorities.

In practice, it is often crucial for foreign women without permanent residence to prove which legal category they fall into under Section 3 of the Act on State Social Support. It is not enough to claim that they live in the Czech Republic or that they have a partner here. The Labour Office will usually want to see a specific residence permit and other relevant documents.

What if a woman loses her job during pregnancy

This depends mainly on the stage at which the employment ended and whether the protection period for maternity benefits is still running. If a woman fulfils the conditions under Section 32 of the Sickness Insurance Act and starts receiving benefits during the protection period, she can still receive maternity benefits after her employment ends. If she does not meet these conditions, another employment or residence situation will have to be resolved.

Moreover, for foreign women from third countries, the loss of employment is often linked to the residence permit. In such a situation, it is no longer just about benefits, but also about another residence regime under the Aliens Residence Act. Here it is often advisable to deal with the matter quickly and simultaneously from the perspective of labour, social and residence law.

Summary

The question of whether you can get maternity and parental benefits without permanent residence cannot be answered in one word. Maternity allowance is not based on permanent residence, but mainly on participation in sickness insurance and meeting the conditions laid down in Section 32 of the Sickness Insurance Act. Parental allowance, on the other hand, is a state social assistance benefit and is assessed for foreigners in accordance with Section 3 of the State Social Assistance Act, which, in addition to permanent residents, also provides for a number of groups of foreigners without permanent residence, such as holders of employment cards, blue cards or persons whose entitlement derives from EU law.

At the same time, a strict distinction must be made between leave to work and benefits. Maternity leave pursuant to Article 195 of the Labour Code and parental leave pursuant to Article 196 of the Labour Code are labour law institutes, whereas maternity allowance and parental allowance are social benefits governed by other regulations. It is this distinction which is essential for the correct assessment of the claim.