Belarusian IT Specialists Are Expected in Ukraine

Ukraine has simplified entry and employment for IT professionals from Belarus. Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, signed a Decree on attracting entrepreneurs and highly qualified specialists who are citizens of the neighbouring state.

According to the Press Service of the Office of the President, the document should promote the development of Ukraine’s investment potential and attract highly qualified IT specialists and innovators.

According to the Decree, the Cabinet of Ministers must extend the period of temporary stay on the territory of Ukraine of Belarusian citizens up to 180 days a year. This applies to entrepreneurs and highly qualified specialists, in particular specialists in the field of information technology, whose immigration is in the interest of Ukraine, and members of their families.

In addition, the government should introduce a pilot project on simplified issuance of temporary residence permits for these categories of citizens of the Republic of Belarus. It is necessary to provide the possibility of reducing the time for obtaining such documents to three days without the need for additional travel outside the Ukrainian territory.

Cabinet of Ministers should separately optimise the procedure for obtaining work permits for foreigners and stateless persons for employment of Belarusian citizens who are highly qualified IT specialists. To this end, it is proposed to reduce the period for granting such a permit to five days and to provide the possibility of obtaining it on the principle of tacit consent.

According to the President’s Decree, the procedure for registering Belarusian IT specialists as individual entrepreneurs – payers of the single tax needs to be improved.

In addition, the Ukrainian government must ensure the smooth operation of a single information portal and hotline to provide advice to Belarusian citizens immigrating to Ukraine.

The Decree comes into force from the date of its publication.

It should be recalled that due to the unstable political situation in the country, Belarusian IT companies have started exporting their employees abroad. One of the main reasons was the detention of IT specialists and prolonged Internet disconnections, which caused losses to companies.

Reference 

The IT industry in Ukraine has been developing dynamically in recent years and is considered one of the most promising. The main centers are Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa. In total, more than 190,000 specialists work in the Ukrainian IT industry. According to experts of the IT Ukraine Association, the country’s IT market will grow steadily by 22-30% annually, and the number of specialists will increase approximately double by 2024.

Bohdan Marusyak