The process of attracting foreign workers to Ukraine currently takes from 6 to 9 months, which significantly complicates businesses’ ability to address the labor shortage. This was stated by HRD Club Ukraine co-founder Dmytro Dehtiar during the discussion of the Migration Policy Strategy until 2035.
Source: “Espreso”
According to him, companies are already actively considering labor migration as a key source of workers, primarily for mass vacancies — builders, logistics workers, and machine operators. At the same time, the requirements for candidates remain basic: knowledge of English and willingness to perform physical labor.
However, in practice, the employment process for foreigners is overly complicated. Among the problems are excessive financial requirements, bureaucracy, and an inefficient verification system. In particular, security checks often take place at the border, when the employer has already incurred costs, and some candidates are rejected.
Dehtiar emphasizes that Ukraine urgently needs to simplify and automate procedures, making them transparent and predictable. According to estimates, the labor shortage in the country could reach 8.6 million people, and internal resources are insufficient to cover it.
A separate issue is that some foreigners use Ukraine as a transit route to the EU — after a short period of work, they leave the country, creating additional risks for businesses.
Experts believe that an effective system of controlled immigration, with a clear sectoral distribution and pre-screening of candidates abroad, could partially solve the labor shortage problem.
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