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Employment of expats in Ukraine

In the process of legal employment in Ukraine, foreigners have always faced a number of bureaucratic difficulties. Over the last decade, the issue of obtaining work permits by foreign nationals has been regulated by three different regulations that have taken turns. And it is fair to say that the development of national legislation in this area has not always led to simplification of the procedure. However, reforms in this bureaucratic sphere have finally been implemented. For the first time, the procedure for hiring foreigners is regulated by a special law.

On September 27, 2017, amendments to the Procedure for issuing, extending and revoking work permits for foreigners came into force. The former Procedure was partially annulled, and today the issue of issuing permits to foreign citizens is regulated by the Law of Ukraine On Employment of Individuals"" of July 5, 2012. The amendments established new rules of the game for citizens. employers in the field of obtaining work permits for expatriates.  draft employment contract to the requirements of the law may be grounds for refusing to issue a work permit and cause the revocation of a valid permit.

The purpose of the new rules is to increase the level of investment attractiveness of Ukraine by simplifying the legalization procedure and attracting foreign IT specialists to the country.

I suggest you get acquainted with the main changes introduced by this Law and find out how they will affect the process of legalization of foreigners on the territory of Ukraine

Who is eligible for a work permit?

From now on, the Law defines an additional, "special" category of foreigners who have certain preferences *, which includes the following persons:

Foreign IT specialists, including foreigners, who hold positions related to the development and implementation of computer programming products (operating systems, computer software) and its components, websites, online services) and the creation cryptographic data protection tools for legal entities. , which, according to the Standard Sectoral Classification of Economic Activities, are mainly engaged in computer programming (for verification of information on the basic code of economic activity 62.01. employment center usually refers to the Unified State Register).

Founders, shareholders and beneficiaries of Ukrainian legal entities (employment center checks information on the formation of authorized capital on the basis of the Unified State Register).

High-paid foreign specialists, including foreigners, whose salary is at least 50 times the minimum wage.

* the opportunity to obtain a work permit for 3 years + no need to pay foreigners a minimum wage of 32,000 UAH. The advantage over the minimum wage does not apply to the category of expatriates referred to in paragraph 3, ie to highly paid professionals.

Other foreigners are also entitled to a work permit in accordance with general rules and procedures. The key requirement of the Law is the payment of a foreigner's salary in the amount of not less than 10 minimum wages, which is 32 thousand hryvnias (in 2017).

Stages of obtaining a work permit

Post information about the vacancy through the local employment center, ie. the employer is still obliged to prepare a report on the standard form 3-PON (the law does not contain a formal requirement, in practice the employment center when considering the package) documents, you need to make sure that the company has an open vacancy).

  • Send a package of documents to the employment center.
  • If the candidate is approved - pay state duty for the issuance of a work permit.
  • Sign an employment contract with a foreigner and provide a copy to the employment center.
  • Terms of renewal and changes Work permits
  • The Employment Center is obliged to consider a package of documents on the issuance or renewal of a work permit within 7 working days and 3 working days.
  • The employer must apply for an extension of the work permit at least 20 calendar days before the expiration of the current work permit.
  • Fees for the issuance or renewal of work permits must be paid within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the decision of the employment center.
  • The employment contract must be signed no later than 90 calendar days from the date of issuance of the Work Permit.
  • The employer must provide a copy of the employment contract to the employment center within 10 days of signing it.
  • The employer must submit to the employment center an application for changes to the current work permit within 30 days of the relevant changes (change of company name, issuance of a new passport to the employee, change of position).
  • The employer is obliged to notify the employment center of the dismissal of the employee within 3 working days.
  • Documents required to process an application for a work permit

In addition to simple applications for the employer, translations of passports, etc. construction, employment contract with a foreigner is one of the most important documents to be considered by the employment center during the design of the package of documents. The Employment Center is very scrupulous in studying this document, as non-compliance of the draft employment contract with the requirements of the law may be grounds for refusal to issue a work permit and lead to the revocation of the current permit.

It is important that the employment contract specifies the position, the amount of salary (subject to the requirements of the law), the term of the contract (this term may not exceed the term of the work permit).

To renew the work permit, the applicant must also submit a draft of a new employment contract or an additional agreement to it to the extent that there are any changes in the working conditions of the foreigner concerned.

Grounds for revoking a work permit

  • Termination of employment contract with a foreigner.
  • Failure to pay the state fee for the issuance / renewal of a work permit within the time limits established by law.
  • Failure to provide a copy of the employment contract with a foreigner to the employment center within the prescribed period.
  • Detection of erroneous data in the documents submitted by the company, the detection of which was impossible during the initial consideration of the application.
  • Establishing the fact of exploitation of a foreigner's work under conditions other than those provided for in the work permit.

As you can see, the corrections are quite radical and, in fact, introduce a new procedure for processing documents. The amendments should simplify the process of issuing work permits for expatriates, and in addition, these innovations should provide foreign investors with additional opportunities to expand their business in Ukraine.

It should be noted that not all of the above amendments to legislation will really simplify the procedure for obtaining permits for expatriates, but we very much hope that they will have a positive impact on the implementation of new rules in practice and increase transparency in the process of issuing and issuing work permits to foreigners.



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