Work permit in Ukraine for foreigners: who is responsible for the staff relocation?

We were approached by a client, a foreign businessman, who we previously helped to open a business in Ukraine. This time he was interested in employing foreign workers in his company. The thing is his business in Ukraine has started to bring a good income, and he was not able to devote as much time as he needed to at the moment.

This is why our client was planning to hire a foreigner as a top manager, with whom he had already worked on another project. After discussing the conditions of work and the possibility of relocation with a potential employee, he received the condition that the latter also wanted to bring along an additional specialist, a member of the marketing team, whom he trusted, and who was to work together with him to achieve the results our Client had set.

On the one hand the Client was ready for additional expenses, taking into account the possible benefits of such investments in personnel, but he wanted to understand exactly how much it would cost him to employ several foreigners in Ukraine, and who would do all the paper collection work: him or the future employees.

We immediately clarified the main issue - it is the employer who is responsible for the relocation of personnel and obtaining a work permit in Ukraine - because the application is submitted on his behalf, and most of the documents are prepared by him.

As for the cost of time and money, when taking into account the vacancies for which he wanted to employ personnel, there were certain requirements for their wages (salary) + he had to consider the cost of a lawyer's services, or to spend his own time on filing documents.

The client assessed his possible profits and was willing to make such an investment, so we set about preparing the procedure.

Related article: Relocation of IT specialists to Ukraine in 2022

What documents should the employer and employee gather?

In fact, the documents that the employee provides are only a copy of the passport and 1 color photo for the documents.

On the other hand, the employer must prepare:

• draft agreement with the employee;

• an application on behalf of the company where the employee will be employed, indicating the person's data and the specific position for which they plan to take him.

Depending on the employee's category, you may also need documents on education, qualifications, etc.

Our lawyers usually help with the drafting or proofreading of an employment contract, because this is the first thing a government agency looks at.

Important! Official employment in Ukraine gives a foreign citizen or a stateless person a legal right for obtaining a temporary residence permit in the country. It is not necessary in all situations, but very convenient if you plan to hire an employee on a contract basis for six months to a year.

Related article: Ukraine work permit 2022: legal advice

When and in what order must documents be submitted in Ukraine to obtain an employment permit?

As soon as all the documents are collected, the foreigner's passport is translated into Ukrainian and the translation is notarized, the documents can be submitted to the Employment Center. All this can be done before the foreign employee arrived in Ukraine.

The documents will be reviewed by the Employment Center from 7 to 10 working days, i.e. about two weeks.

As we said above, the relocation of a top manager can place additional conditions on you as an employer regarding the employee's salary. But it will depend on the direction of your company, the employee's qualifications and category, working conditions, and the position for which you are hiring him. We talked about this in more detail here.

As for our Client, we organized the entire process, and both of his new employees were able to start work in just three weeks. We also provided guidance on the deadlines within which both employment contracts had to be signed and what to do after that. After all, one important aspect of the procedure is to submit a copy of the contract to the employment center no later than 10 days after it is signed. This deadline should never be violated, unless you want to lose your permit and start the whole procedure all over again.

If you are facing the problem of official employment of foreigners in Ukraine - you can contact us. We also work with large corporate clients who plan to relocate a large number of employees.

The cost and conditions of work permits for foreign workers here.