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The Attracting Labour Migrants to Ukraine as One of the Possible Directions of Development of the Migration Policy of Reconstruction Expert Discussion by R2P in Kyiv

November 24, 2023

On Thursday, 23 November, in Kyiv, R2P held an expert discussion, Attracting Labour Migrants to Ukraine as One of the Possible Directions of Development of the Migration Policy of Reconstruction. Representatives of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, the UNHCR in Ukraine, the International Organization for Migration, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, the National Institute for Strategic Studies, the Cedos Analytical Centre, and others attended the event.

The participants discussed what Ukraine's migration policy should be for the effective recovery of the country, taking into account the consequences of a full-scale invasion.

Vadym Fedchyshyn, the Representative of the EasyBusiness NGO, focused on developing Ukraine's human capital, encouraging the return migration of Ukrainians, and attracting foreign talents.  

Yuliia Kabanets, the Analyst at the Cedos Analytical Centre, delved into the difficulties foreigners still face in Ukraine.

"The lack of human resources to support Ukraine's economic growth is an obvious problem. Even if most Ukrainian refugees return, the nation's ageing and low birth rate since the 1990s will continue to reduce the number of workers. 

At the same time, government policy on attracting foreigners to Ukraine continues to be based on the need to prevent unemployment of the citizens and the influx of criminals. The first step towards facilitating foreigners' access to Ukraine should be the unilateral opening of the Ukrainian labour market to EU citizens. Based on this experience, it was necessary to plan the liberalisation of employment of citizens of other countries in Ukraine," said Hlib Vyshlinskyi, the Centre for Economic Strategy Executive Director.

At the event, Natalia Krynytska, the Legal Analyst, presented the study, The Migration Policy of Ukraine Concerning Foreigners in the Context of Post-War Reconstruction, prepared by R2P's experts. The Fund's recommendations in this regard are as follows: 

• updating documents in the field of migration; 
• collecting up-to-date statistics;
• facilitating official employment of migrants;
• introducing a policy of integration of foreigners at the state and local levels.

Svitlana Tkachenko, the State Expert of the Expert Group for Strategic Planning and Development of the Directorate for Strategic Planning, Policy Coordination and European Integration of the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, confirmed the need to work on this topic: 

"One of the ways to develop and provide human capital for the Ukrainian economy may be to attract labour migrants. We need to rebuild the country; we need labour. We require it for construction, road repairs, etc. But this requires programmes. We need to work on this issue consciously, systematically and strategically."