For comparison, the State Employment Service issued 16,300 permits in 2021 and 7,500 in 2025, while 3,800 had been issued as of June 1, 2026, Pavlenko said.
Permits can be issued for periods ranging from six months to three years, depending on the category of foreign worker, he said.
“A permit can be extended an unlimited number of times if there are grounds to do so,” Pavlenko said.
The State Employment Service does not shape migration policy or recruit foreign workers for jobs in Ukraine, he said.
“The State Employment Service provides employers with an administrative service: processing permits to employ foreign nationals and stateless persons,” Pavlenko said.
Ukraine’s State Migration Service previously released information on labor migrants in the country.
Nearly half of Ukrainian companies do not consider hiring foreign workers at all, while only one in eight are actively exploring the option.
Almost 70% of Ukrainian businesses reported staffing shortages as of June 2026.
Women accounted for 81% of unemployed people in Ukraine as of June 2026.