Employment of foreigners and stateless persons in Ukraine is one of the guarantees of compliance with the provisions of the Constitution of Ukraine, which stipulate that non-residents and stateless persons who are legally on the territory of Ukraine have the same rights and obligations as citizens of Ukraine. This rule also applies to employment relationships.

Peculiarities of employment of these categories of persons, the institute of “employment permit” and liability for violation of labor legislation are sufficiently regulated at the national level. Such legal relations as the Constitution of Ukraine, the Labor Code, the Code of Administrative Offenses, the Law “On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons” and the Law “On Employment” extend to the scope of their legal relations.

In Ukraine, the right of employers to use the labor of foreigners and stateless persons on the basis of an employment permit is guaranteed and ensured. The legislation of Ukraine also provides for the possibility to work without a work permit for certain categories of persons.

What is the responsibility for non-compliance with the requirements established by the legislator on employment and who bears it?

In the case of employment by employers of non-residents or stateless persons in respect of whom the issue of granting refugee status to companies or natural persons-entrepreneurs is resolved: a fine is levied:

• in the amount of twenty times the minimum wage (set at the time of the violation) - for each person working under an employment or other contract without a work permit;
• in ten times the amount of the minimum wage - for each person employed on conditions other than those provided for in this permit, or by another employer.

The legislation also provides for administrative liability for admission to work of non-residents or stateless persons for legal entities and natural persons-entrepreneurs. In this case, they are fined from 8500 to 17000 UAH (as of 18.09.2020).

If a repeated violation committed during the year for which a person has already been subjected to an administrative penalty entails the imposition of a fine from 17,000 to 34,000 UAH (as of 18.09.2020).

Interesting fact: Until 2009, Ukraine provided for the responsibility not only of employers, but also of foreign workers themselves. In this case, a foreigner who applied for a job without a work permit was subject to expulsion from Ukraine.

Thus, today in Ukraine there is an effective mechanism for protecting the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of foreigners and stateless persons, and the legal consolidation of responsibility increases the level of compliance with the requirements of labor legislation.

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