How To Extend Work Permit And Residence Permit In Ukraine?

Our lawyers often deal with a situation where a foreign employee of a large company needs to extend his/her work permit due to personal circumstances. 

What are these circumstances?

For example, a foreign employee’s work permit in Ukraine is about to expire. However, he plans to continue working in Ukraine. Or, for example, a non-resident employee gets another position in the company and needs to make changes to his work permit and, if the validity period of his work permit is about to expire, he needs to extend it already in the new position. 

In addition, in all cases of extending a work permit in Ukraine, a foreigner must also extend a residence permit. This is due to the fact that a foreign worker in Ukraine can not have a residence permit, obtained on an invalid basis. It means that when the work permit expires the residence permit in Ukraine automatically expires at the same time. 

The publication will be interesting for workers of IT companies, pharmaceutical companies, energy organizations, mining and metallurgical and agro-industrial complexes, whose aim is long-term work in Ukraine. 

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Non-Resident Fails To Extend The Work Permit: What Are The Consequences?

If a foreigner fails to extend the work permit in time, and the residence permit, this will result in the following consequences:

• cancellation of the work permit and residence permit;

• obligation to leave Ukraine after the expiration of these documents;

• need to undergo the entire complicated procedure of obtaining a residence permit on the basis of employment all over again. 

These consequences prevent a foreigner from continuing to work in a Ukrainian company, force the foreigner to travel abroad during the quarantine period, and require additional time and money to gather the package of documents and obtain a new permit. 

Our lawyers can help you prevent the cancellation of the work permit, as well as provide services for the extension of the work permit and residence permit without going abroad. This will save your time and effort, which can be more usefully spent on your business activity in Ukraine.

Important: What To Do In Case Of The Work Permit Cancellation?

What is necessary to extend a work permit and a residence permit in Ukraine?

When a non-resident extends his/her work permit one month before it expires, he/she must submit to the Employment Office exactly the same set of documents as the Client initially submitted for obtaining a work permit. Additionally, it is necessary to take the old permit as well. That is, in fact, the procedure for timely extension of a work permit is the same as the initial procedure for its obtaining. You shall submit a full set of documents at least 20 days before the work permit expires. 

The Kyiv Employment Office considers the documents for extension of the work permit within 3 business days, after which it sends the applicant its decision. After its issuance you have 10 days to pay the state fee. The employment contract with the employer must also be submitted within 10 days after its conclusion. 

The procedure for extending the residence permit looks approximately the same as the previous one. The package of documents for extension of the residence permit consists of the same papers that were filed for obtaining an initial residence permit. Find more details on the procedure here. 

Residence permit is issued within 15 business days, and the place of residence shall be registered within 30 days after obtaining the document. 

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In this situation, we take full responsibility for the organization of the process, in order to avoid overstaying, as it will greatly complicate the situation. Our lawyer will take the following actions:

• Analyzes your situation, including deadlines, in order to get everything done on time;

• Prepares all the documents to the Employment Office for the extension of the work permit;

• Helps to conclude an employment agreement with the employer on favorable terms and conditions to minimize taxes;

• Gets a ready work permit;

• Prepares a set of papers for the migration service for the extension of the residence permit without going abroad;

• Provides legal support and assistance to the Client at the SMS agencies;

• Gets an extended residence permit;

• Assists with registration of the Client in the city of Kyiv. 

How to extend a work permit and residence permit without going abroad?

Please note! In order to extend your work permit and residence permit, you need to contact a lawyer in advance, that is, 2 months before the expiration of these documents. 

Applying to a migration specialist in advance allows you to extend your work permit and residence permit without going abroad and obtaining a visa. The lawyer will help you to gather all the documents correctly. 

Stages of the work permit and residence permit extension without going abroad are as follows:

1. First, you need to submit a set of documents to the Kyiv Employment Center to extend the work permit. 

2. After getting a positive decision, you need to submit a set of documents to the Migration Service. 

3. In 15 business days you will get a residence permit extended for the same period it was obtained before. 

In this case you don’t need to leave and come back to the country, and get the D-type visa again. After obtaining a new work permit and residence permit, a foreigner stays on the territory of Ukraine on the basis of the residence permit and does not need a visa. 

Our lawyers will help to extend the work permit and residence permit without going abroad, so you will not need to spend extra time on the whole procedure again: applying to the embassy, obtaining a visa, paying visa fee, waiting for it, etc.

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Paying wages to minimize taxes

One of the important issues of organizing work in Ukraine for foreign entrepreneurs is the tax burden and how to avoid unnecessary taxes.

According to the general rule, there are quite high requirements for the minimum wage of a foreigner - UAH 50,000 minimum (more than UAH 60,000 since 2021), and this leads to the fact that the employer loses at least UAH 20,000 of taxes and fees when paying wages. 

Is it possible to reduce this burden? Yes, there are such options. So, for example, we can reduce the tax burden up to UAH 2,000 by registering the employee under certain conditions. 

Do you want to extend your work permit and residence permit in Ukraine? Don’t hesitate to contact our lawyers! We will help you to prevent the cancellation of the work permit and residence permit, to extend the validity period of these documents without going abroad and reduce your tax liabilities. 

Didn’t find an answer to your question? 

See more information about Work Permit in Ukraine here.