Round table: “Burning issues of Ukrainian immigration law: practical aspects”

On 2 June 2009, Deloitte Ukraine held a round-table meeting titled “Burning issues of Ukrainian immigration law: practical aspects”.

Deloitte Global Employer and Individual Solutions practice prepared a brief legislative review of immigration regimes applicable in Ukraine, analyzed typical impediments arising in this respect, and discussed with the participants the respective solutions that are currently available.

“Many countries, because of the crisis, have strengthened protection of their labor markets and tightened immigration rules for foreign citizens. Ukraine was no exception: starting 15 May, a new Resolution by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine regulating the procedure for obtaining employment permits has come into effect. Moreover, we can witness a stricter control by the state authorities over compliance with immigration rules”, says Deloitte Partner Viktoria Chornovol.

In addition to innovations, the legislative practice of enforcement of immigration laws by the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the State Citizenship, Immigration and Individuals Registration Department of the Main Department of Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine (the so-called “OVIR”) has also changed.

Such practice applies to foreign citizens residing on the territory of Ukraine for over 90 days out of 180 days from the moment they first enter the country.

Prior to that, in fact, in order to be able to enter and leave the country without any restrictions it was sufficient for a foreign citizen to go through the procedure of “extension of stay on the territory of Ukraine” (the so-called “temporary registration”). As of today, the state has tightened control over observance of immigration rules, and the practices significantly changed”, says Deloitte Manager Yaroslav Guseynov. Violation of immigration regime on the territory of Ukraine together with inappropriately formalized documents might result in fines and up to being expelled from the country and banned from entry into the country for up to 5 years, at worst.      
Effective legislation has solutions that are only available to foreign citizens employed by Ukrainian companies who have employment permits issued to their name. Such solutions imply obtaining temporary residence permits.  Whereas prior to that obtaining such residence permits was not usual, today it has become a common practice. 

At the same time, current legislation does not have any clear solutions for foreign citizens employed by non-resident representative offices and their family members. Verbal position of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine is that those categories of citizens must leave the country before their 90-day term of stay in Ukraine expires. If that is the case, the term of stay will commence again after they enter the country for the next time. Unfortunately, as of today this position has not been formalized yet.

The topic aroused significant interest among representatives of Ukrainian and international companies that employ foreign employees. During the discussion, it turned out that employees of HR departments of many of those companies faced the problems regarding immigration regime in Ukraine. They, together with Deloitte professionals, shared their experiences in solving those issues with the round table participants. The event was attended by representatives of 24 companies, such as Toyota, Samsung, MTS, Coca-Cola Hellenic, Wimm-Bill-Dann, 1+1, JTI, and others.

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