Eleven documents 'just in case' and the five that matter: permit files done right

01 / The list

Eleven documents HR wanted from every candidate

The farm machinery plant was preparing for its order season and asked for fourteen fitter-assemblers and steel erectors. We recruited in Azerbaijan: there are many people there with experience at machine-building plants, and citizens of that country enter Ukraine without a visa.

Before the first interview, HR sent us a list of documents it wanted from each candidate. The list had eleven items: passport, diploma, employment record book, references from previous employers, a character reference, a medical certificate, a police clearance certificate, a marriage certificate, photos, a copy of the tax ID and a letter from the previous employer. HR's logic was understandable: better to collect too much than find something missing later.

Nataliia, head of our documents department, replied that such a list would cost candidates weeks, some documents would need legalisation, and permit applications are almost never stopped for lack of a diploma. Instead of a list she proposed a map: what the law needs, what the plant needs for itself, and what we check some other way than by document.

Who's needed

14 fitter-assemblers and steel erectors

Original list

11 documents from every candidate 'just in case'

The risk

Weeks of collecting, legalisation, candidates who won't wait

Our proposal

A document map and skills checked without paperwork

A permit application isn't stopped by a missing diploma. It's stopped by a date of birth transposed in translation.

02 / The document map

What the law requires, what the plant needs, and what we check another way

The Employment Law clearly lists what's filed for a work permit: an application in the prescribed form, copies of passport pages with personal data with a certified Ukrainian translation, a colour photo, a draft employment contract certified by the employer, and proof of payment. The same law prohibits requiring documents beyond that list.

We sorted everything else on HR's list into three columns. Some documents the plant needs for its own HR archive, and those can be collected later without hurry. Some add nothing to the decision, since a fitter's skill shows better on video and at interview than in a reference. And a police clearance certificate isn't needed for a permit on the visa-free route, so we didn't collect it.

03 / Skills

A fitter's experience shows on video, not in a reference

HR wanted references from previous employers because it feared getting people without experience. We proposed a check that says more than paper. Elchin, our manager for workers from Azerbaijan, held video interviews with every candidate together with the foreman of the plant's assembly section.

Each candidate showed a video from his workplace or from our partner's training workshop in Ganja: assembling a unit from a drawing, using measuring tools, drilling to marked lines. The foreman asked questions you can't prepare for: how do you check alignment, what do you do if the holes don't line up. Based on the interviews the plant approved fourteen people and three in reserve.

That answered the plant's main question, and candidates didn't have to spend a month collecting papers from former employers, some of which had already closed. How to test skills before a permit with a practical task is covered in the scenario about a welders' test.

04 / The candidate card

One source of data from which everything else is printed

The most common reason a permit application is left without motion is that a person's details don't match across the documents in the file. A surname in Latin script in the passport, in Cyrillic in the translation and again in the draft contract can easily be written three ways. Azerbaijani surnames are especially tricky: one translator writes HUSEYNOV as 'Гусейнов', another as 'Хусейнов', and a third version from an old form ends up in the contract.

So for each candidate we created a single card: surname and first name exactly as in the passport in Latin script, the agreed Ukrainian spelling, date of birth, passport number and expiry, and job title from the staffing schedule. The translator received the table of agreed spellings before starting. The draft contract, application and information sheet were printed from the card rather than typed by hand from different sources.

We checked each card against the original passport twice: when the candidate sent a photo of the page, and when we made the copy from the original. For two candidates the partner's form didn't match the passport: one had transposed digits in the number, the other an old expiry date from a previous passport.

1. 01

   Name

   Latin script exactly as in the passport, plus one agreed Ukrainian spelling.

2. 02

   Dates

   Date of birth and passport expiry in one day-month-year format.

3. 03

   Passport

   Number checked against the original, not the form or a photo.

4. 04

   Job title

   Exactly as in the plant's staffing schedule.

05 / Translation

Translation errors we catch before filing

Foreign-language documents for a permit are translated into Ukrainian, with the translator's signature notarised. A translation from an online service or from an acquaintance who 'knows the language well' won't do. We work with translators who know the requirements for these files, and still have every translation checked by a separate person.

Over the years we've compiled a list of the errors that most often get an application returned. We check for each of them in every file, even when the translator is reliable.

• day and month transposed in the date of birth or passport expiry;
• only the first page translated, without other pages with personal data;
• the surname in the translation doesn't match the draft contract;
• no notarised translator's signature;
• the draft contract isn't certified by the employer.

06 / Foreign documents

When a document from another country needs legalisation

Documents issued abroad are legalised for use in Ukraine unless an international treaty provides otherwise. The procedure varies by country: some need an apostille, for others legal assistance treaties apply. We check this for each country and each document separately rather than telling candidates to 'get an apostille just in case'.

In our project only one candidate needed a foreign document. Rustam had changed his surname a few years earlier, and the diploma the plant wanted for its archive showed the old one. The diploma isn't needed for a permit, and his passport was already in the new name, so the application wasn't affected. But the plant wanted to see that the diploma belonged to this person. We established how a name change certificate is prepared for use in Ukraine, Rustam obtained it at home, and its translation was attached to the diploma in the plant's archive after the permit had been filed.

The plant received the other candidates' diplomas as copies with translations after arrival, with no effect on timelines. We keep the list of documents candidates prepare on our documents for candidates page, and company documents in the company checklist.

07 / Filing

Fourteen applications on one day and none left without motion

1. Week 1

   Document map agreed with HR; interviews with the foreman and videos.

2. Week 2

   Candidate cards, passport page photos, spelling table for the translator.

3. Week 3

   Copies from originals, translations, draft contracts from the cards, double check.

4. Filing day

   14 applications filed together; fee paid from the plant's account.

5. Within 7 working days

   All permits issued without remarks.

A permit decision is made within seven working days, and the check for grounds to leave an application without motion happens on the next working day after registration. None of the fourteen applications received a remark. For the plant that meant less than four weeks from approving candidates to permits, rather than five weeks waiting for papers from archives. What to do if an application is left without motion is covered in detail in the scenario about an application left without motion.

08 / Arrival

Fitters in the workshop with documents that match to the letter

After the permits, the group entered visa-free with a document set for the border: a permit copy, the plant's invitation, proof of housing and Elchin's phone number. More on this route on our visa-free entry page. Employment contracts were signed in the first days, and their details matched the permits to the letter, because they were printed from the same cards.

We used the same cards for temporary residence permit filings and registration of residence: no new manual data entry and no new discrepancies. From here we handle the group's documents through migration support, and the candidate cards became the basis of the deadline register.

09 / Outcome

Less paperwork, faster permits and no discrepancies

Documents

Of the 11 on the list, the required ones collected for permits; the rest later for the archive

Skills

Interview with the foreman and video instead of references

Data

One candidate card for translation, contract, application and residence permit

Checking

Every file checked by two people before filing

Result

14 permits without remarks in under four weeks

There's nothing in foreign workers' documents that WORKIN can't solve: we know what the law requires, what's unnecessary and what stops applications, and we prepare files so there are no questions about them. The WORKIN replacement guarantee lasts at least 6 months from the worker's first shift, provided the agreed working, pay and housing conditions are kept. The overall preparation steps for HR are summarised in our HR project checklist. More on our pages about technical trades, production workers, workers from Azerbaijan and recruitment.

10 / FAQ

Questions and answers