Ukrainian labor legislation establishes an imperative rule that allows foreign citizens or stateless persons to work in Ukraine only if they obtain an employment permit. In turn, the employment permit is the basis for obtaining the appropriate type of Ukrainian visa and a temporary residence permit in Ukraine valid during the period of validity of the employment permit.

Who does not need to obtain a work permit

A work permit in Ukraine is not required for:

• foreign citizens or stateless persons who have a permanent residence permit in Ukraine,

• employees of foreign representative offices in Ukraine,

• in case of participation of foreign citizens or stateless persons in the implementation of an international technical assistance project in Ukraine,

• in other cases provided for by Ukrainian legislation.

The employment permit validity period

As a rule, an employment permit is issued for a period of up to one year. For special categories of foreigners and foreign posted workers, an employment permit is issued for a period of up to three years.

A work permit can be issued for shorter periods, which must be specified by employers in the application.

Necessary documents

To obtain an employment permit, the following documents must be submitted:

1. application;
2. 1. a notarized copy of a foreign citizen's passport with its translation into Ukrainian;
3. 1. one color photo;
4. 1. a copy of the draft employment contract with the foreigner, certified by the employer.

For employment of certain categories of foreigners, the employer additionally submits the following documents:

• a copy of a foreign citizen's diploma (for graduates of universities included in the top 100 of world university rankings);

• notarized copies of documents identifying the object of copyright and/or related rights of the author and certifying authorship (for foreign employees of creative professions);

• a copy of the agreement (contract) concluded between a Ukrainian and a foreign company, which provides for the employment of foreigners and stateless persons sent by the foreign employer to Ukraine to perform a certain amount of work (for seconded foreign workers);

• the decision of the foreign company to transfer the worker to work in Ukraine and a copy of the transfer contract concluded with him/her, indicating the period of work in Ukraine (for intra-corporate assignees).

All documents issued abroad must be apostilled (or legalized) after their notarization, and then translated into Ukrainian.

The decision to issue an employment permit in Ukraine is made by the competent employment service of Ukraine within 7 working days and in the case of extending the validity of the employment permit - within 3 working days. Ukrainian legislation does not limit the number of employment permits in Ukraine. The application for the extension of the employment permit must be submitted no later than 20 calendar days before the expiration of the employment permit in Ukraine.

In addition, a foreigner must apply for a type C visa (employment for up to three months) or a type D visa (employment for more than three months).