Permits issued, three people missing: the group left on time and the reserve caught up

01 / Twelve days to departure

An evening call from Istaravshan

At 21:40 on a Thursday, Sherzod Rakhimov, our Worker Relations Manager for Tajikistan, got a call from Sukhrob. Twenty-nine years old, a packer who had spent four years in a wholesale warehouse in Khujand, and one of the twenty people whose work permits had been issued a week earlier. He spoke in Tajik, quietly, as if he had stepped out into the yard so that no one at home would hear. A new workshop had opened in his district, they wanted him there as senior storekeeper, and his mother, who lives alone, had asked him to stay. Sukhrob apologised twice and said he had not wanted to wait until the last day to call.

Sherzod thanked him for his honesty and for calling himself rather than simply not turning up. Then he opened the group's readiness sheet and made a note: one place out of twenty free, reason - a job at home, decision final. By the next morning there were two notes. Two days after that, three.

This is not a story about people letting anyone down. A man travelling abroad to work for the first time decides together with his family, and life at home does not pause while the paperwork is done. It is a story about how three drop-outs a week before departure did not delay the start for the other seventeen: from day one the project had readiness checkpoints and a reserve whose documents were ready.

A candidate who says no twelve days before departure is a task for one week. A candidate who silently fails to turn up at the bus is an empty place for a month.

02 / The order

A new warehouse, twenty people and the choice of country

Two months before that call, the plant's HR director described her task to Andrii Savchuk, Deputy Director at WORKIN. The plant prints labels and cardboard boxes for food brands. It had finished building a warehouse for finished goods and expanded its packing area. Confectionery makers had already ordered boxes for the New Year season, so the warehouse had to be fully up and running in eight weeks. The plant needed twelve packers, five loaders and three storekeepers, and it had exhausted the local labour market back in the spring.

The plant did not name a country and asked for our advice. We compared the options on five points. First, time: eight weeks from request to handover leave no room for a visa route of eight to twelve weeks, so only visa-free countries were considered. Second, language: the warehouse manager and team leaders give instructions in Russian or Ukrainian, and people need to understand them without an interpreter. Third, experience in warehouse work, packing and loading. Fourth, the depth of our partner's candidate reserve. Fifth, the particular features of the group.

On these points Tajikistan was the best fit. Citizens of Tajikistan enter Ukraine without a visa, and the route takes four to seven weeks, which fitted the deadline. Most candidates speak Russian fluently, and we check that at the interview rather than taking it from the application form. Our licensed partner in Khujand had enough people with warehouse and packing experience to form both the main group and a reserve. Our partner in Uzbekistan was recruiting for another project that month, so the reserve there would have been thinner. We proposed Tajikistan, and the plant agreed.

The fifth point, the features of the group, turned out to matter most in this project. Candidates from neighbouring districts of the Sughd region often travel abroad for the first time, and the decision to go is made not only by the man himself but also by his parents, his wife or an elder brother. So Andrii built two things into the plan from the start: a conversation with every candidate about what the family thinks, and a reserve that gathers its documents together with the main group. Sherzod speaks Tajik, Uzbek and Russian, so he could talk to the candidates and their relatives in whichever language suited them.

Who was needed

12 packers, 5 loaders and 3 storekeepers

Deadline

Handover to the plant in 8 weeks

Why Tajikistan

Visa-free route, Russian language, experience, partner's reserve

Reserve

4 candidates with the same document set

03 / Selection

Khujand, Istaravshan and twenty-four names on the list

Sherzod held interviews over five days in Khujand and Istaravshan together with our partner. Every conversation followed the same order: where the person had worked and what he did there, for how many years, how well he speaks Russian, and whether he had ever travelled abroad. The partner also asked loaders and storekeepers to pick and label an order against a delivery note in its own warehouse, which shows experience better than any account of it.

Sherzod ended every interview with the same question: who in the family knows about the trip, and what do they think of it? This is not a formality. A candidate whose wife or parents do not know yet can agree sincerely at the interview and just as sincerely pull out a week before departure. Two men said they would tell their families later, and Sherzod suggested they come back to the conversation once they had talked at home. One came back three days later. The other never called again.

The HR director approved twenty main candidates from their profiles and a short video of each. We selected four more for the reserve: they went through the same interview and the same practical task. Sherzod told the reserve candidates plainly that they were in reserve and could be called at a few days' notice. A person who knows that does not quit his current job in advance and is not offended if the call never comes.

Each of the twenty-four received an information sheet: the address of the plant and the hostel, the job title and pay from the draft employment contract, the contract term, medical insurance, what to carry at the border and Sherzod's phone number. A separate line states that the partner did not take any money from the candidate for the job placement. That is a rule in our contract with the partner, and every candidate confirmed it with a signature. Sherzod went through the sheet with each person in Tajik and asked him to show it at home.

In parallel, all twenty-four gathered their documents for the permit: copies of the passport pages made from the original, a translation into Ukrainian with the translator's signature notarised, and a colour photo measuring 3.5 by 4.5 centimetres. The reserve candidates gathered exactly the same set as the main group, but we did not file permit applications for them, so that the plant would not pay for permits it might never need.

04 / Checkpoints

Six readiness checkpoints from the interview to the bus

A checkpoint is a day on which every candidate confirms once more that he is going, with a date by which we expect an answer. Andrii placed these checkpoints in the project calendar before the permit applications were filed. Five to six weeks pass between the interview and departure, and in that time another job turns up, a relative falls ill or a family changes its mind. We cannot change that. What we can do is find out as early as possible.

The checkpoints are most frequent after the permits are issued. While selection and document collection are under way, people are busy and feel that things are moving. Once the permits are out, two or three weeks of waiting begin, and that is exactly when decisions change most often. So after the permit we have not one checkpoint but three.

We also agreed the silence rule with the plant in advance. If a candidate does not answer within 48 hours of a checkpoint, Sherzod looks for him through the partner and through the family contact the candidate himself left in his profile. If there is still no clear answer 72 hours later, Andrii and the HR director decide whether to call in the reserve. No blame and no pressure: a person has the right to change his mind, and the project has the right not to wait for him until the last day.

05 / Three people

A job at home, a family decision and a phone that stays silent

The plant received the permits for all twenty in week four, within seven working days of filing. Nataliia Kravchuk, our Head of Documents, checked every permit against the passport and the candidate's profile: name in Latin letters, job title, term. Sherzod called all twenty at checkpoint 4, and all twenty confirmed they were going. We planned to buy tickets after checkpoint 5, twelve days before departure.

It was at checkpoint 5 that Sukhrob called. The next morning, while Sherzod was collecting ticket details, Nozim, thirty-four, a loader who had spent three seasons at a vegetable depot in Khujand, said he would not be going. His wife was expecting a baby in a month, and at a family council his parents had asked him to stay at home until the birth. Nozim himself suggested that the partner keep his profile on the list for future projects.

The third was Firdavs, twenty-four, a packer for whom this was to be his first trip abroad. At checkpoint 5 he answered neither calls nor messages. After 48 hours Sherzod asked the partner to contact the family and called Firdavs's elder brother himself, whose number Firdavs had left in his profile. The brother explained calmly that their parents were against a first trip so far from home, that Firdavs had agreed with them and had been too embarrassed to say so himself. Sherzod asked him to pass on that everything was fine and that he was grateful for the answer.

Three out of twenty in three days. The HR director called Andrii with her first question: should the whole group's departure be pushed back two weeks so that everyone arrived together? Andrii worked it through with her. If the trip was delayed, seventeen people who were ready would wait at home, the warehouse would open two weeks late, and in those two weeks something might change for one of the seventeen as well. If it was not delayed, seventeen would leave on their date and three from the reserve would follow as soon as their permits were ready. The plant chose the second option.

1. 01

   Sukhrob, packer

   Took a job at home, his mother asked him to stay. Called himself at checkpoint 5.

2. 02

   Nozim, loader

   His wife is expecting a baby. Asked for his profile to stay on the partner's list.

3. 03

   Firdavs, packer

   Silent after checkpoint 5. After 48 hours his elder brother answered: the family is against it.

4. 04

   Decision

   The main group leaves on its date, the three places are filled from the reserve.

06 / The reserve

Three new applications in one day

The first reserve candidate Sherzod called was Jamshed, thirty-one, who had worked as a loader at a flour mill in Khujand for six years. Next came Umed, twenty-seven, a packer from a building materials warehouse. The third was Parviz, thirty-eight, a storekeeper with experience in stock records. All three confirmed that same evening. The fourth reserve candidate, Khurshed, stayed in reserve, and Sherzod explained to him that the reserve remained in place.

This is where it became clear why the reserve had gathered its documents alongside the main group. Passport copies, translations with notarised translator signatures and photos for the three reserve candidates were already with us. That same day Nataliia prepared three applications and three draft employment contracts with the same job titles that Sukhrob, Nozim and Firdavs had held. The plant certified the draft contracts and paid for the three permits the next morning, and we filed the applications.

Sukhrob's permit cannot simply be rewritten in Jamshed's name. A work permit gives the company the right to employ a specific foreign national in a specific position, so a separate application with the new candidate's own documents is filed for each replacement. The employment law gives the employment centre up to seven working days from registration of the application to decide on a permit, so every day gained on the reserve decision brought the three replacements' arrival closer.

We marked the three permits issued for the people who did not travel in the project register. An employment contract under a permit must be signed no later than 90 calendar days from the date of issue, and a certified copy of the contract must be submitted within 10 days. If the copy is not submitted in time, the employment centre revokes the permit. There would be no contracts under these three permits, and the plant heard that from us the same week rather than three months later.

Who replaced whom

Jamshed, Umed and Parviz from the reserve of the same selection

Documents

Collected in advance together with the main group

Filing

Three new applications with the new candidates' documents

Decision time

Up to 7 working days from registration of the application

Permits of those who stayed home

Marked in the register, no contracts will follow

07 / Departure

Seventeen people at five in the morning in Khujand

While the employment centre was considering the new applications, the main group was getting ready to leave according to its own calendar. At checkpoint 6, three days before departure, Sherzod called all seventeen and went through the border folder with each of them: passport, copy of the permit, the plant's invitation, proof of accommodation, medical insurance and the manager's phone number. The group already knew that three people were not going: Sherzod had written in the group chat himself that the places were being filled from the reserve and that the new people would follow.

Keeping quiet about it is not an option. Seventeen people from neighbouring districts know one another, and the news would have reached them anyway, only with rumours attached, and a person who hears about other drop-outs three days before departure starts to have doubts of his own. A short, calm message from the manager answers the question before it is even asked.

On departure day the group met at five in the morning outside the bus station in Khujand. All seventeen came. Then came a flight to a country bordering Ukraine, a bus to the checkpoint and the land border. Sherzod had already explained the border questions to the group in Tajik at checkpoint 4: the border guard asks about the purpose of the trip, and the person answers directly that he is coming to work under an issued permit and shows his folder. The procedure for entering without a visa is described on the page on visa-free entry.

The group reached the border checkpoint the following morning and cleared control within an hour. Sherzod met them on the Ukrainian side, and the plant's bus took them to the hostel. Three beds in the rooms were left free for those coming later: we had allocated the rooms before arrival as part of living support, and had checked the hostel documents needed for registration and residence permits well in advance.

08 / Two weeks later

The three from the reserve catch up with the group

The permits for Jamshed, Umed and Parviz were issued on the sixth working day after filing, while the main group was already on the road. We did not buy tickets for the very next day: Parviz needed to hand over his duties at his warehouse in Khujand, and we did not want the three to travel one at a time. Three people travelling together cope with the journey and the border more easily than a single newcomer. Andrii agreed one date for all three with the plant, exactly two weeks after the main group.

Before departure Sherzod had the same conversation with the three as with the main group: the information sheet, the conditions, the border folder and the border guard's questions. And he added one thing. Each of the three knew he was taking the place of someone who had stayed at home for personal reasons, not because of any problem at the plant. A person joining a group that has already settled in needs to hear that before he leaves, not from his roommates.

The three arrived on a Monday. Sherzod met them after the border checkpoint, and at the hostel they found made-up beds and seventeen people from home who already knew where the shop was, where the bus stop was and how to find the HR office. Jamshed, Umed and Parviz signed their employment contracts the next day.

The plant had signed employment contracts with the main group in the first days after arrival, and we submitted the copies within the 10-day period. Applications for temporary residence permits went in groups of six, and we put the three latecomers into the last group so that no separate filing was needed. Registration of residence at the hostel address ran on the same calendar, and from then on we have been handling the documents of all twenty as part of migration support.

1. Weeks 1-2

   Interviews in Khujand and Istaravshan, 20 main candidates and 4 in reserve, documents for all 24.

2. Week 3

   Checkpoint 3 and filing for 20 permits.

3. Week 4

   Permits issued, checkpoint 4: all 20 confirm they are going.

4. 12-9 days before departure

   Checkpoint 5: three are not going, decision on the reserve.

5. 8 days before departure

   Three new permit applications with the reserve's documents.

6. Departure day

   Seventeen people leave Khujand on their planned date.

7. 2 weeks later

   The three from the reserve arrive and sign contracts the next day.

09 / Summary

Twenty people at the plant and a reserve that stays in touch

Checkpoints

Six, three of them after the permits were issued

Drop-outs

Three, 12 to 9 days before departure, not on the day of the bus

Reserve

4 candidates with documents ready, three travelled

New permits

Three applications in one day, decision on the sixth working day

Arrival

17 people on their date, three more 2 weeks later

A few drop-outs before departure are a normal part of group recruitment, and we build projects so that they do not delay the start. Checkpoints give us a date by which we learn about a change, a reserve with documents ready turns a drop-out into an application within a day, and a calm conversation with the group stops doubts from spreading. Khurshed, the fourth reserve candidate, stays in touch with Sherzod: the WORKIN replacement guarantee runs for at least 6 months from the worker's first shift, provided the agreed working, pay and housing conditions are kept, and for such a replacement we already have a person from the same selection. How we prepare a group from Tajikistan for the border is covered in the scenario on a greenhouse group's first border crossing, and how we close the paperwork and find a replacement when a worker has to leave urgently is covered in the scenario on an urgent departure from a warehouse. We collect the company's filing documents using the company checklist, and the whole journey is described on How it works. More on the pages on workers for manufacturing, packers, loaders and warehouse workers.

10 / FAQ

Questions and answers