Citizens of Ukraine more often than others issue a residence permit in European countries

Ukrainians moving to the European Union are beginning to be seen there as a competitive labor force. This was stated by Andrei Gaidutsky, Doctor of Economic Sciences.

According to him, during the period from 2012 to 2015, the number of residence permits issued by Ukrainians in European countries more than tripled and amounted to 500 thousand documents. At the same time, the average number of requests (that is, taking into account all foreign citizens) increased by only 20 percent. Statistics on the issuance of citizenship for the same period are even more revealing: if in general the number increased by 1 percent, then among Ukrainian citizens it tripled.

In terms of the number of applications for residence permits, Ukrainians were in the TOP-5 in ten out of 28 European countries, and in the European Union as a whole they came out on top. Indicators for citizenship have also improved, which is natural: if previously Ukrainians were in 21st place, by 2015 they rose to eighth.

According to Andrey Gaidutsky, obtaining a residence permit by Ukrainians is most often associated with investment activities, entrepreneurship and “start-up visas”.

Investment policies in European countries may differ only in the minimum amount of invested capital – it ranges from 70 thousand to two million dollars. Investment programs of this kind operate in France, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Great Britain, Spain, as well as Cyprus. The advantages of such a policy are obvious: for example, Cyprus managed to attract about 4 billion euros in 2016 alone, which is approximately 20 percent of the country’s GDP.

As for Ukraine, such statistics are more of an alarming signal for it than a reason to be happy for our compatriots. The outflow of labor will sooner or later lead to a noticeable shortage in the national labor market, because current indicators are far from the limit. According to the results of a recent sociological survey, about 35 percent of our compatriots would not mind leaving the country forever if given the opportunity, and 35 percent is more than a third of the total population. Thus, the Ukrainian authorities are already faced with the need to take comprehensive measures to prevent the outflow of the working-age population. There is no answer to the question of what measures would be optimal – they could be either a revision of the labor compensation policy or a European model of investment policy.