Is it possible to appoint a foreigner as a head of a Ukrainian limited liability company without work permit for foreigners in Ukraine?

• How is a head of a company selected?
• Are there special requirements for foreigners?
• Is it necessary to get permission for using foreigners’ labor?

A head of a limited liability company is appointed at the company’s shareholders’ general meeting. And in case of incorporation of a new company, a head is appointed at the meeting of founding members. That is, by the protocol which deals with setting up the company, defining its name, distribution of shares in the authorized capital, and so on.

The protocol about incorporation does not require notarial certification. Even the presence of the future head is not required at the meeting. But it’s worth paying attention to the fact that the identification number of the future head should be obligatorily indicated in the application about state registration that will be submitted to the state registrar.

Therefore the first thing that a foreigner who is going to become a head of an enterprise (or its founder) should do is to get an identification number in Ukraine. After that, nothing will disturb the registration of that person as a head of a company at the Unified state register.

But the registration of a company is the beginning only. Because according to part 4 of Article 3 of the Law “About people’s employment”, the employers should employ foreign citizens on the grounds of a permission for using labor of foreigners or persons without citizenship.

Part 1 of Article 42 of the same Law discloses the above-mentioned provision from the following perspective” an employer has a right to use foreigners’ labor in Ukraine on the grounds of a permission issued by an executive authorized body. Given this, we can say that an employer has a right to employ a foreigner only on the grounds of permission for using foreigners’ labor.

What consequences can be if permission for using foreigners’ labor is not obtained?

In case an employer uses labor of foreign citizens on the grounds of a labor (or other) agreement and with that has no corresponding permission for using foreigner’s labor, a penalty may be levied against him (employer) twenty times as much as the minimum salary (being valid upon the moment such an administrative offence is detected).

Conclusion

Thus, by virtue of loyalty of the law, a foreign citizen may be appointed as a head of a company without getting permission for him to use labor. But that may result in imposition of a serious penalty and obstacles for successful activity of the enterprise in future.

In case you want to get permission for foreigner’s employment, please call.