Why EU demands migration changes from Ukraine and how this will help volunteers
In the fifth year of the full-scale war, Ukraine has entered with a readiness to quickly implement changes needed for EU accession and with the need to attract more international assistance to overcome wartime challenges.
There is one specific reform that will move the country forward in both directions at once. It concerns new rules for foreign volunteers and humanitarian organisation workers.
Read more in the column by Nataliia Povtar and Anna Isichko of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law: A reform awaiting the president’s signature: how to help volunteers and move closer to the EU.
Numerous volunteers from different countries are working across Ukraine.
They deliver humanitarian aid, rebuild schools, clear rubble, assist internally displaced persons and residents near the front line and take part in reconstruction. Among them are specialists with unique skills, including doctors, architects, instructors and top managers.
It is unknown when the war will end, but even after it does, Ukraine will face a complex and large-scale reconstruction process.
The authors note that Ukrainian migration legislation was written in peacetime, which has created a legal paradox. Nataliia Povtar and Anna Isichko explain further.
Most foreign volunteers arrive under visa-free rules that allow them to stay in Ukraine for 90 days. To remain longer, they need a residence permit.
However, obtaining such a permit is not straightforward, because volunteers usually do not have a long-term visa (type D). Due to Ukraine’s visa-free regime for citizens of most Western countries, there was simply no need for such a visa.
Therefore, volunteers must return home to apply at a Ukrainian embassy in their country.
"As a result, we as a country also lose the opportunity to encourage such foreigners to stay in Ukraine permanently after the war with their families and long-term plans. We must already be thinking about the demographic landscape of the coming years and shaping it actively rather than reactively," write the representatives of the Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law.
According to them, the problem became so noticeable that the EU gave Ukraine "homework" to resolve it, and it is now part of Ukraine’s European integration commitments. Under the Roadmap for the functioning of democratic institutions, Ukraine must simplify conditions for foreign volunteers and humanitarian workers.
There is also good news: the task is practically completed. Lawmakers, in cooperation with civil society organisations and international organisations, drafted bill №13071, and on 12 March this year, Ukrainian parliament adopted it.
The bill incorporates both Ukrainian experience and EU recommendations, prioritising people’s needs and national security rather than bureaucracy.
Volunteers and specialists will be able to obtain temporary residence permits from within Ukraine by applying to the State Migration Service or the nearest administrative service center. A type D visa will not be required.
Now the decision lies with the president, who must sign the law.
It is worth recalling that in the first reading the bill was unanimously supported by members of parliament, with clear backing from the president.
The significance of these changes should not be reduced to merely fulfilling a point in the Roadmap for democratic institutions.
Foreign volunteers play a crucial role in communicating the truth about Ukraine not only to governments but also to the broader public in partner countries.