Main points
- Legalizing a foreign worker in Ukraine costs about $1,500 and takes a long time due to administrative barriers.
- Ukraine plans to simplify rules for labor migrants, including introducing a single work and residence permit.
What are the obstacles to labor migration to Ukraine / Shutterstock, Getty Images / Collage of Channel 24
There is a growing shortage of workers in the Ukrainian labor market, which could be alleviated by labor migration. However, there are a number of factors that make it difficult to attract foreign workers.
What hinders labor migration to Ukraine?
Legalizing one foreign worker in Ukraine costs over a thousand dollars in total, and the process can take a long time. Labor market expert Vasyl Voskoboynyk said this in a commentary for Channel 24 .
According to the expert, the most the employer has to pay when employing a foreigner is for a permit from the State Employment Center. Its cost depends on the validity period and is tied to the subsistence minimum for able-bodied persons (from January 1, 2026 – 3,328 hryvnias).
A permit to employ a foreigner this year costs:
- for a period of up to 6 months – 9,984 hryvnias ;
- from 6 months to 1 year – 16,640 hryvnias ;
- from 1 to 2 years – 26,624 hryvnias ;
- from 2 to 3 years old – 33,280 hryvnias .
Separately, you will have to pay for a temporary residence permit in Ukraine – about 1.5 thousand hryvnias , a work visa type D – from 65 to 300 dollars (depending on the country of origin of the foreigner). Additional costs will be for translations, a notary, medical insurance and legal support. As a result, employment of one foreigner will cost about 1,500 dollars .
Vasyl Voskoboynyk
Head of the NGO “Migration Policy Office”, President of the All-Ukrainian Association of International Employment Companies
In Ukraine, the approach is very simple: the state must earn money. That's why we set a high barrier for people to enter the labor market. And what will happen next? In fact, it doesn't really affect the economy of Ukraine. If you look, in 2025, only 9.5 thousand work permits were issued or extended.
Compared to neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic, where hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have migrated to work, entering the labor market in Ukraine is much more difficult. This is facilitated by administrative and logistical barriers .
As expert Vasyl Voskoboynik notes, despite the fairly quick processing time for a work permit (up to 7 working days), the wait for a work visa can last up to 6 months or even longer .
Please note! The administrative fee for a work permit is not charged to foreigners who have applied for recognition as a stateless person, will receive refugee status, participated in the defense of Ukraine from Russian aggression, are studying or have graduated from Ukrainian universities and want to stay and work.
The road to Ukraine is also problematic, as logistics have become complicated due to the war. It is impossible to get there by plane, so you first need to get a transit visa and get to a neighboring country: Poland, Romania, Moldova. However, having a visa does not guarantee that a foreigner will be released from the airport.
Imagine a Bangladeshi citizen arriving in Warsaw and saying he is going to work in Ukraine. They ask him: how much will your salary be there? He says: $500-$700. Border guards understand that in Poland he can earn $1,000-$1,500. Will they believe him that he will continue to transit through half of Poland to Ukraine? They may simply not let him go, because having a visa is not a prerequisite for being allowed into a particular country,
– says Vasyl Voskoboynyk.
Given these barriers and relatively low salaries, Ukraine's attractiveness to labor migrants is low.
What is the situation on the labor market in Ukraine?
According to a study by the European Business Association, 74% of surveyed employers experienced a shortage of qualified personnel in 2025. The situation was similar in 2024.
According to the results of the surveys, it was found that the biggest difficulties for businesses are related to the closing of vacancies for technical and labor specialists, as well as narrowly specialized specialists with knowledge of English and middle managers.
The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting conducted a survey of 472 industrial enterprises in March, according to which 67% of respondents complained about a labor shortage . This is the highest figure during the research.
At the same time, in March, a rapid increase in the difficulty of finding qualified personnel was recorded – from 51.4% to 61.4%. 35.1% of enterprises reported difficulties in finding unqualified personnel (in February, this figure was 30.8%).
According to expert Vasyl Voskoboynyk, a labor shortage in Ukraine is observed in all sectors of the economy . The annual population reduction of 250-300 thousand people and the forced departure abroad due to the war of more than 5 million citizens pose the state with the challenge of a severe shortage of personnel .
Please note! According to estimates by the International Labor Organization, an additional 8.7 million workers need to be recruited to the labor market to restore Ukraine.
What is being done in Ukraine to simplify access for foreigners to the labor market?
- During a meeting with business representatives from the CEO Club community, Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov announced that Ukraine will review the rules on labor migrants in order to ease restrictions. This concerns the list of migration risk countries, whose citizens, in particular, can use official employment as a way to get to Ukraine and then migrate further.
- In 2024, draft law No. 11405 on improving the procedure for employment of foreigners in Ukraine was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. However, it did not go beyond the Social Policy Committee. Among the proposed changes is the introduction of a single permit for employment and residence in Ukraine , which is issued according to a single procedure.
- Currently, discussion of draft law No. 14211 is ongoing, which contains similar proposals for the introduction of a single permit for temporary residence and employment of foreigners.
- Ukraine also presented a strategy for state migration policy until 2035, which is based on the labor-resource aspect and focuses on providing the economy with a workforce. It was prepared by experts from the All-Ukrainian Association of International Employment Companies and scientists from the Mykhailo Ptukha Institute of Demography and Quality of Life Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The developed proposals will soon be submitted to the government for consideration.