"Here, you work long hours and the pay is completely inadequate," she says. "You can't even begin to compare the wages."

Tučková doesn't worry about having a work permit in Austria, and neither do thousands of other foreign nurses working there, an issue that's igniting a nationwide debate in the runup to Austria's general election next month.

Politicians are at odds over what to do about what could be as many as 40,000 nurses and caregivers from the former Eastern bloc that are thought to be working illegally in Austria. Many want them out but are afraid that such a crackdown would alienate elderly Austrians who have come to rely on the more affordable services given by nurses from new European Union countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.

In the past year, there have been dozens of cases in which foreign nurses have been found working illegally in Austria and fined.

But there are also just as many cases, it seems, when authorities look the other way — a nod, perhaps, to the fact that as many as 70 percent of Austrians are in favor of allowing foreign caregivers to continue working without a permit, according to the daily newspaper Der Standard.

"Austrian officials knew about us," says Tučková. "But they let us be. Who else would take care of their old people?"

Tučková spent a few months in Austria last year, working 14-day shifts for a charitable institute. In the Czech Republic, nurses like Tučková earn an average monthly wage of 20,684 Kč ($941). In Austria, they can make nearly double that amount.

Tučková plans to return soon for more work, she says.

Just how many Czechs like Tučková are working as nurses and caregivers in Austria is unclear, though the Czech Health Ministry says the numbers are not significant enough to impact the healthcare system here.

"The number of nurses leaving the country isn't so high if you compare it to the total number of nurses working here," says Health Ministry spokeswoman Jana Kocová.

Foreign caregivers in Austria work primarily for private institutions or individuals.

Austrians found employing illegal caregivers can face stiff fines: 1,000 euros ($1,280/28,200 Kč) for the first offense, 10,000 euros if caught a second time.

That's why there's been a push from a number of advocacy groups for the elderly to legalize foreign caregivers' status in Austria.

Andreas Khol, head of the senior section of the People's Party in Austria, has suggested, for instance, that foreign caregivers be given the same status as au pairs, so that they can be employed without work permits.

Even when paid lower wages than locals, nurses coming from Eastern Europe can still earn more than they would at home.

Officially, 505 Czech nurses have been granted permission to work abroad since EU accession in 2004. Around 80,000 nurses work in the Czech Republic, according to the Health Ministry.

Healthcare officials here don't seem to be too disturbed that the actual number of nurses leaving the country is likely to be much higher since those employed illegally are undocumented. Some maintain that Czechs will benefit in the long run, since young nurses are gaining valuable experience abroad and improving their foreign language skills.

Indeed, not all Czech caregivers see working abroad as just a way to make more money.

Aneta Jílková, who, like Tučková, is a 22-year-old Moravian, says her main reason for working for stretches in Austria was to improve her German.

"Taking care of older people is a good way to learn the language," says Jílková, who has worked in Austria on four different occasions, the most recent as a caregiver for a cancer patient in the Austrian Alps. This month she leaves again for Austria. The experience, she says, is invaluable.

The work permit? An unnecessary hassle. "Of course I don't have a permit," she says. "It's only for a short time, and, besides, they need us there."