Foreigners and stateless persons who arrive in Ukraine for employment for a specified period of time are hired by employers on the basis of a work permit for foreigners and stateless persons.

In turn, the work permit is the basis for obtaining the appropriate type of Ukrainian visa and temporary residence permit in Ukraine, which is valid for the period of validity of the work permit.

Who does not need to obtain a work permit

The following persons do not need to obtain a work permit in Ukraine:

• 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 international technical assistance projects in Ukraine
• in other cases stipulated by the Ukrainian legislation.

Validity period of the work permit

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

Work permits may be issued for shorter periods, which must be specified by employers in the application.

Documents required

The following documents are required to obtain a work permit:

• application
• a notarized copy of the foreigner's passport with its translation into Ukrainian
• one color photo;
• a copy of the draft employment agreement (contract) with the foreigner, certified by the employer.

For the employment of certain categories of foreigners, the employer shall additionally submit the following documents

1. a copy of a foreign citizen's diploma (for graduates of universities included in the top hundred in world university rankings)
2. notarized copies of documents identifying the object of copyright and/or related rights of the author and certifying authorship (for foreign workers in creative professions)
3. a copy of the agreement (contract) concluded between a Ukrainian and a foreign company, which provides for the use of labor of foreigners and stateless persons sent by a foreign employer to Ukraine to perform a certain amount of work (for seconded foreign employees);
4. a decision of the foreign company to transfer the employee to work in Ukraine and a copy of the transfer contract concluded with him/her, indicating the period of work in Ukraine (for internal corporate assignees).

Please note!

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

The decision on issuing a work permit in Ukraine is made by the relevant employment service of Ukraine within 7 working days, and in case of extension of the work permit - within 3 working days. Ukrainian legislation does not set a limit on the number of work permits in Ukraine. The application for extension of the work permit must be submitted no later than 20 calendar days before the expiration of the work permit in Ukraine.

In addition, a foreigner must obtain a type C visa (if the work is for up to three months) or a type D visa (if the work is for more than three months).