Moving to Ukraine

The employer, not the worker, applies for the permit. It files, among other documents, an application confirming that the post is not tied to Ukrainian citizenship and needs no access to state secrets, and a draft employment contract or gig contract certified by the employer, with proof of payment of the permit fee (art. 42-2). For a hired foreign worker the permit runs for the term of the employment contract or gig contract, but not more than two years, and can be extended (art. 42-3). A permit for a citizen of the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus or another state recognised as a threat to Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and constitutional order is issued and extended only with the agreement of the regional body of the Security Service of Ukraine (art. 42). The temporary residence permit is issued on the worker's application, a valid medical insurance policy, the work permit and the employer's undertaking to notify the migration and labour authorities if the contract is terminated early (Law 'On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons' art. 5(4)). Family members who come to Ukraine to reunite with the worker can receive their own temporary residence permits (art. 4(15)). After five years of continuous residence in Ukraine on a temporary residence permit, the holder is among the categories eligible for an immigration permit, the basis for permanent residence (Law 'On Immigration' art. 4(2)(11)). These Laws contain wartime provisions tied to martial law; entry, travel and security conditions are not assessed here and should be checked before any plan.

The investor is listed in art. 4(2), among the categories for which the Cabinet of Ministers may set an immigration quota; the Law provides for a quota only on a mass arrival of immigrants, defined in art. 1 as immigrants exceeding 10 percent of Ukraine's population. The investor is not among the art. 4(3) categories granted a permit outside the quota. With the application the investor files the originals and copies of the charter and/or registered investment agreements (contracts) and a bank certificate that a foreign investment in foreign convertible currency of at least USD 100,000 was received into Ukraine's economy (art. 9), besides the documents every applicant files, including a document that they do not suffer from chronic alcoholism, substance abuse, drug addiction or the infectious diseases on the health ministry's list. A permit is refused on the grounds in art. 10, among them a sentence of imprisonment for more than one year for an act that is a crime under Ukrainian law, where the conviction has not been expunged or lifted. A person who receives the permit while living abroad obtains a long-term visa; the permanent residence permit is issued within 15 working days of the documents being accepted and can be applied for within one year of the immigration permit (art. 11). The investor's spouse, if married for more than two years, children under 18 and incapacitated parents who are family members under the law of the country of origin form a category of their own as family of an immigrant (art. 4(2)(6)). The euro figure recorded here is an approximate conversion, not a statutory amount. Naturalisation under Art. 9 of the Law 'On Citizenship of Ukraine' requires, among other conditions, five years' continuous residence in Ukraine and an immigration permit, and one of four documents filed with the application: a citizen of a state on the Cabinet of Ministers' simplified-procedure list may file a declaration recognising themselves a citizen of Ukraine, while others undertake to terminate their foreign citizenship, declare that they renounce it, or declare that they hold none. These Laws contain wartime provisions tied to martial law; entry, travel and security conditions are not assessed here and should be checked before any plan.

The entity must be entered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, Individual Entrepreneurs and Public Formations (art. 4(12)). The permit is issued on the applicant's application, a valid medical insurance policy, the entity's written undertaking to notify the migration authority if the applicant loses the status of founder, participant or beneficial owner (controller), and documents that depend on the form of the investment: the entity's constituent document and the size of the applicant's share where the investment was made in money; the customs declaration and the transfer act where movable property was contributed; the transfer act where property acquired in Ukraine was contributed; or a securities-account statement where the applicant is a shareholder of a joint-stock company registered in Ukraine (art. 5(12)). Residence is lawful for the period of the permit. Family members who come to Ukraine to reunite with the holder can receive their own temporary residence permits (art. 4(15)). After five years of continuous residence in Ukraine on a temporary residence permit, the holder is among the categories eligible for an immigration permit, the basis for permanent residence (Law 'On Immigration' art. 4(2)(11)). This is a temporary residence route and is distinct from the USD 100,000 foreign-investment category of the Law 'On Immigration' (the investor route): the thresholds, currencies and outcomes differ. These Laws contain wartime provisions tied to martial law; entry, travel and security conditions are not assessed here and should be checked before any plan.

The applicant files documents proving the family relationship with the Ukrainian citizen and that the relatives hold Ukrainian citizenship; where one spouse is a Ukrainian citizen, each spouse also gives written consent to an interview and written tests (art. 9). Art. 4-1 lists circumstances in which a marriage is not accepted as a ground, among them one spouse receiving material compensation for consenting to the marriage, the spouses not living together, not having met or communicated before the marriage, or not sharing a language both understand. Every applicant files a document on their place of residence in Ukraine and abroad; the document on the absence of chronic alcoholism, substance abuse, drug addiction and listed infectious diseases is not required from the spouse, children or parents of a Ukrainian citizen (art. 9), and the refusal grounds of an unexpunged sentence of more than one year's imprisonment and of those diseases do not apply to them (art. 10). For the family of an immigrant, the immigrant confirms that they do not object and guarantees financial support at not less than Ukraine's subsistence minimum (art. 9). A person who receives the permit while living abroad obtains a long-term visa; the permanent residence permit is issued within 15 working days of the documents being accepted and can be applied for within one year of the immigration permit (art. 11). A foreigner who comes to Ukraine to reunite with family members who are Ukrainian citizens, or who marries a Ukrainian citizen while lawfully staying in Ukraine on certain other temporary grounds, can instead hold a temporary residence permit until they obtain permanent residence or Ukrainian citizenship (Law 'On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons' art. 4(14)). For naturalisation, Art. 9 of the Law 'On Citizenship of Ukraine' does not apply its five-year continuous-residence condition to a foreigner married to a Ukrainian citizen for more than three years, or widowed after more than three years of such a marriage; the three-year marriage period itself does not apply to a holder of an immigration permit under point 1 of part three of Art. 4 of the Law 'On Immigration'. These Laws contain wartime provisions tied to martial law; entry, travel and security conditions are not assessed here and should be checked before any plan.