The first thing that surprises most foreign professionals offered a job in Ukraine is that they cannot apply for their own work authorisation. Ukrainian law places the entire obligation on the hiring company. The employer files the application, the employer pays the state fee, the employer signs the correspondence, and the employer carries the penalty if something goes wrong. The permit that comes back is not a general licence to work in the country — it names one employer, one position and one set of duties, and it is worthless the moment any of those three change.