Very often, when hiring a foreign employee, the employee needs to relocate to the country of his work for the period of employment. After work permit has been obtained (which is required in most cases for employment of a foreign employee), a foreign employee can relocate to Ukraine upon securing a temporary residence permit.

This article is a guide to main requirements and procedure of securing a temporary residence permit for foreign employees in Ukraine.

In Ukraine, a temporary residence permit is required for all foreign employees who will be relocating to Ukraine for the duration of their employment.

A temporary residence permit is not required if:

• employee mostly works remotely from his/her country of permanent residence; and
• employee does not need to stay on the territory of Ukraine longer than 90 days within 180 days period

In the above-mentioned case, the employee can visit Ukraine (if necessary) under a short term visa or without visa (depending on the citizenship, for more details see Ukraine visa requirements).

To apply for temporary residency permit, the employee must be physically present in Ukraine (as his fingerprints are collected on the day of application).

Once the employer obtained work permit for you, in order to receive temporary residence permit you need to go through 3 steps:

1. Arriving in Ukraine on a special visa (type “D”)
2. Applying and securing the Temporary Residence Permit in Ukraine
3. Registration of Residential Address in Ukraine

Each one of these steps is explained in detail below.

In order to apply for the temporary work permit, the employee must arrive in Ukraine on a visa type “D”.

Visa type “D” is a special multi-entry visa issued for 90 days that allows a foreign employee to come to Ukraine and apply for a temporary residency permit. Basically, visa D is a mandatory pre-step of temporary residence permit application.

Please note that as an exception, citizens of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Russia and Moldova do not need visa “D” before application for TRP (based on international treaties between the countries).

In order to get visa D, the foreign employee must personally apply for this visa at the Ukrainian embassy at the place of his citizenship or permanent residence. As an exception, citizens of EU countries, the USA, the United Kingdom and some others can apply for visa “D” in any country of the world.

The following documents are required in order to apply for visa type “D”:

Documents required:

• visa application
• valid passport
• one color picture 35 х 45 mm
• medical insurance (with min. coverage of EUR 30 000)
• proof of financial security for the period of stay in Ukraine
• consular fee receipt
• Proof of employment in Ukraine (one of the following):
  • certified copy of work permit (if applicable);
  • employment agreement (for cases when the work permit is not required)
  • invitation of foreign representative office/permanent establishment of a foreign company in Ukraine (for cases when the employer is such foreign representative office/permanent establishment)
  • application of an authorised body of a foreign country or an international organization (for employees of embassies or consulates, international organizations, or their representative offices)
• additional documents may be required by Ukrainian embassy when considering visa application (e.g. proof of accommodation booking, etc).

Cost (consular fee): standard fee is 65 USD; urgent visa – double price. Note that on reciprocal grounds, the visa consular fee for citizens of certain countries may be different from the standard fee (check the visa fee for your citizenship here).

Processing Time: 5 working days (urgent) and 10 working days (standard).

Processing time and cost may vary depending on the country of residence of the foreign employee. Additionally, the term of visa processing can be extended up to 30 working days if there is a necessity to make the further check of documents filed as part of visa application.

Upon approval of the “D” visa, the applicant is given 90 calendar days to apply for residence permit in Ukraine. However, application for residence permit cannot be later than 15 business days before visa D expiry.

Once foreign employee has obtained visa “D” and arrived to Ukraine, he/she can apply for temporary residence permit to the State Migration Service of Ukraine (but not later than 15 business days before expiry of the visa D).

Required documents:

• Original of passport with visa type “D”
• Certified translation of passport into Ukrainian with personal details and visa D
• Valid medical insurance
• Proof of employment in Ukraine:
  • work permit; OR
  • employment agreement (for cases when work permit is not required)
• Letter from the company-employer with request to issue the permit for its employee and obligation to notify the State Migration Service in case of pre-term termination of employment agreement
• Government Fee Receipt

Processing Time: up to 15 business days

Cost (government fee): 340 UAH

Term: issued for the same term as work permit (up to three years).

Once the application is approved, the applicant can obtain the temporary residence permit personally upon presentation of his/her passport.

Once the temporary residence permit has been secured, the next step is to register the residential address of the foreign employee with the the State Migration Service. You have to perform such registration within 30 calendar days from the day of receipt of the TRP.

Required Documents:

• Application for registration of residential address
• Temporary residence permit
• Documents certifying right to use the residential real-estate by the employee (ownership certificate, lease agreement or consent of owner/tenant etc)

Processing Time: 1 day

Cost: free of charge

Term: termless

If the foreign employee wants to relocate his family members to Ukraine, the employee will need to invite them to Ukraine on visa type ‘D’. The employee can make invitation after employee has obtained temporary residence permit himself.
Once in Ukraine, family members of the employee can apply for temporary residence permit in the State Migration Service of Ukraine (with further registration of their residential address in Ukraine).

In the process of application of family members for visa and temporary residence permit, it will be necessary to provide inter alia proof of belonging to family of the foreign employee (legalized/apostilled with certified Ukrainian translation), residence permit of the foreign employee and financial support evidence.

Temporary residence permit is issued on each member of the family.

However, application for residence permit for children under 18 is not mandatory providing they reside together with their parents.

Foreign national, who is willing to extend temporary residence permit, has to apply for its extension not later than 15 business days prior to the day of its expiration.  The procedure, timeline and government fee of extension of temporary residence permit is the same as for getting temporary residence permit.

Required Documents:

1. previous temporary residence permit;
2. original of passport
3. certified translation into Ukrainian of passport of foreign citizen (required only providing the passport has changed)
4. valid medical insurance
5. letter from the company-employer with request to extend the permit for its employee
6. address registration certificate
7. proof of employment in Ukraine:
   • work permit (if applicable);
   • employment agreement (for cases when work permit is not required)
8. Government Fee Payment Receipt

A foreign employee who has been lawfully employed in Ukraine as well as members of his/her family have the right to obtain temporary residence permit.

Usually getting the temporary residence permit is the next step after getting work permit by the foreign employee. Some categories of foreign employees do not need work permit for being employed in Ukraine (e.g. employees of foreign representative offices/permanent establishments of foreign companies, permanent residents of Ukraine, sportsmen, journalists, artists and some others) so that they can apply for temporary residence permit on the basis of their employment agreement.

Here are some additional related guides that you might find useful:

• Work Permit for Foreign Employees
• A Foreigner’s Guide to Working in Ukraine
• A Foreigner’s Guide to Living in Ukraine

For assistance in all your Ukraine relocation needs, please contact us.