On 5th March this year, the Law on the support of Civilians of Ukraine (hereinafter – the Law) came into force to provide support to citizens of Ukraine as well as their family members that are leaving Ukraine or cannot return to Ukraine due to the military conflict caused by the Russian Federation, for the duration of this conflict, as well as to provide universal support to the Ukrainian public.
The adopted Law does not cancel or amend the procedure of the application and review for the asylum, but it does implement additional measures that allow the Ukrainian residents' opportunities to obtain government support, as well as obtain residence and work opportunities in the Republic of Latvia.
The Law provides a procedure in which a Ukrainian civilian can obtain a long-term visa with employment rights. I.e., if a Ukrainian civilian does not currently have a right to reside in the Republic of Latvia or does have the right to reside but without rights to be employed, and if the individual has a valid travel document, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, State Border Guard or diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Latvia abroad can issue a long-term visa with rights to employment without restrictions up to one year, without applying the requirements of the Law of Immigration Article 4 Paragraphs 3 and 5 of the First Part and without charging the state fee for the processing of documents submitted for the application for a visa.
The situation, in which documents submitted by the Ukrainian civilians regarding the application for the rights of residence do not comply with the requirements of the Law of Document legalization, or it is not possible now to submit all the documents required by the Cabinet regulations regarding the application procedure for the visa or right of residency permit, is regulated by the adopted Law. In this situation, the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs can apply for one year term for the submission of the appropriate documents.
The Law also states different requirements regarding the employment of the Ukrainian civilians in the education system and regarding the rights of Ukrainian civilians to practice medicine. That way the state ensures both the economic interests of the Ukrainian civilians as well as the lack of employees in these respective fields.
For example, it is decided that Ukrainian civilians are permitted to provide underage Ukrainian civilian (children) supervision services and work as educators, providing education to underage Ukrainian civilians (children) without complying with the requirements by the legislative acts of the educator profession.
The medical practitioners that have practiced in Ukraine also apply to the support measures regarding employment. The medical practitioners that are registered in the Latvian Register of Medical Practitioners and Medical Support Persons but are practicing in Ukraine are subject to the same rules regarding the renewal of the term of registration and certification as medical practitioners registered in the Republic of Latvia.
Exemptions regarding the language requirements have also been made. The employer can employ a Ukrainian civilian without the knowledge of the state's official language as far as it does not hinder the performance of job duties. The Law also states that medical institutions provide communication with the medical practitioners regarding the use of the state official language when performing professional activities with patients and other medical practitioners in situations, where the medical practitioner has arrived from Ukraine and does not fully master the Latvian language in such capacity to fully perform professional activities.
For the assurance of the more effective provision of support, an exemption has been made on requirements regarding the employment of the citizens of third-party states (non-EU or EEA states), allowing the employer not to register the vacancies in the State employment agency. The requirement regarding the employment of foreigners and the amount of necessary financial resources for the employer to ensure a salary not less than the average gross salary in the Republic of Latvia in the previous year will not be applied. Since for newly employed workers the first salary will be paid after one month, the Law allows the employer to receive a grant from the State employment agency in the amount of one monthly salary for one employee.
The amount of state support provided to the Ukrainian civilians has been determined including in regard to underage Ukrainian education, social services and social support to Ukrainian civilians. The Law determines that Ukrainian civilians are granted rights to receive state-paid health services in the same amount as persons insured in the frame of the Latvian mandatory state insurance system.
The state grants the Ukrainian civilians' the opportunity to open and use basic account credit institutions that are operating in Latvia and offer such services, without special requirements included in the Payment Services and Electronic Money Law.
It is interesting that in order to provide the support stated in the Law the state and municipality institutions are allowed to make procurements and deliveries without following the public procurement law procedural regulations, as well as make changes in the signed agreements with the suppliers or service providers, increasing the contractual obligations as far as it is necessary to provide support to the Ukrainian civilians.
The Law determines the competence of the municipalities in providing support and at the same time gives the municipalities the right to gift (donate) financial resources or property for the means of providing universal support to the Ukrainian public.
BDO LAW provides the consultations to the Ukrainian civilians free of charge (pro bono) in regard to:
- Long-term visas with the rights to employment and obtaining of residency permits and submitting of the necessary documents to the Office of Citizenship and Migration affairs;
- Bank account opening for a natural person;
- Review of rent agreements;
- Procedure of obtaining state support regarding the underage persons education, social services and social support, as well as state-paid healthcare services;
- Questions regarding labor rights, if the Ukrainian civilian is planning to be employed by a Latvian employer. The services might include the review of employment agreement, confidentiality agreement or any other employment related documents, consultations regarding the proportionality of the salary, social warranties etc.;
- Continuity of entrepreneurship (including creation of new company/company entity and registration in Latvia, opening of the bank account, lease agreement review and preparation, questions related employment).
Simultaneously we offer consultations to employers that will be employing Ukrainian civilians and therefore will be subject to the new requirements regarding their employment.