New Delhi Embassy Implements New Lottery System

The situation

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi announced that the e-mail appointment scheduling system for Employee Card applicants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka has been cancelled and a new lottery system has been introduced.

A closer look

Under the system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will select 33 foreign nationals to receive an appointment date to submit their Employee Card application between January and March 2020. Only registrations submitted December 11, December 13 and December 16 will be considered in the lottery.

Impact

Considering the low number of available slots, the chances that an applicant will be granted an appointment through the lottery are minimal. Fragomen therefore advises affected applicants to submit Employee Card applications based on one of the special government programs (including Key and Scientific personnel or Highly-Qualified Workers programs) that allow submission without registration through the lottery system. Processing under these local hire schemes takes 30-45 business days instead of the typical 60-90 days under other immigration paths.

Background

The New Delhi Czech Embassy implemented an online appointment system in August 2019 for Employee Card applicants from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka. The Embassy limited intake to 73 appointments per month but was not able to handle the high volume of applications. The government has likely implemented this lottery to better control the intake process as the volume of applications continues to increase at this location.

Looking ahead

Since the New Delhi Czech Embassy is constantly dealing with a high volume of applications, the authorities are seeking a solution to decrease the number of pending appointments and reduce the appointment waiting time. Fragomen will monitor the situation and observe how often the lottery dates are announced and if the amount of available time slots remains the same. It is not clear at this time if the lottery system will be a long-term solution or if other changes will occur. Fragomen will report on relevant changes.

This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen or send an email to [email protected].