The number of Ukrainian citizens applying for permits to work in the Czech Republic is continuing to rise, novinky.cz reported on Saturday. While two years ago the figure was around 170 a month, it has now reached 1,000 a month, the news site said.

With a very high number of jobs unfilled in the Czech Republic, employers have expressed great interest in hiring Ukrainians through a government scheme named Ukraine Regime. The initial intention was to bring in 3,800 a year. However, the total number of applicants over this year and 2016 has been more than 10,000.

The increased interest has put a strain on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior, which oversee the scheme, novinky.cz said. Whereas applications were dealt with within a week in August 2016 that process now takes 114 days.