Company Formation in Ukraine

The state registrar can incorporate a Ukrainian LLC within 24 hours of a complete filing. Getting to a complete filing, and then to a working bank account, is what takes ten to twenty-one business days. The one rule that catches every foreign founder: you cannot be your own director without a work permit.

What IS Group handles

We obtain your Ukrainian tax number, incorporate the LLC, arrange the director question, and take you through to a working bank account.

We are based in Kyiv, so this is our home jurisdiction rather than a remote one. That matters most at the bank, which is where foreign-owned companies stall.

We do not open companies for clients who cannot explain what the business will do. Ukrainian banks ask, and a vague answer closes the account.

Planning a company in Ukraine?

Tell us the business activity and whether you intend to manage it yourself. Those two answers set the whole timeline.

Apply for business formation Ask us a question

You cannot appoint yourself director without a work permit

A foreign national may own 100% of a Ukrainian LLC. Running it is different: to be its director you need a work permit, and you cannot hold the position without one.

The usual solution is that a Ukrainian resident holds the directorship at incorporation, signs the founding documents and opens the bank account, and is replaced once your work permit is granted — typically three to five months after registration. That arrangement needs to be set up properly, with real safeguards over the bank account, because for those months someone else legally controls the company.

Setting up the company, step by step

  1. Obtain a Ukrainian tax number (RNOKPP) for each foreign founder. Three to five business days, and it must be done before incorporation.
  2. Translate and notarise your passport. The translation must be into Ukrainian, with the translator's signature notarised.
  3. Settle the director question — a resident director at the start, or wait for your own work permit.
  4. Prepare the charter and founders' decision, and declare the ultimate beneficial owners. UBO disclosure is mandatory at registration.
  5. File with the state registrar. Registration itself is normally complete within 24 hours.
  6. Open the bank account. Expect real questions about the business, its counterparties and the source of funds.
  7. Register for tax and choose your tax system.

Realistic end to end, from signing the charter to having account details: 10–21 business days, depending mostly on the bank.

The facts

EntityLLC (TOV)
Foreign ownershipPermitted in full
Minimum capitalFrom 1 hryvnia, no maximum
Registration timeWithin 24 hours of a complete filing
Full cycle10–21 business days including the bank
Tax number firstYes, 3–5 business days
Foreign directorRequires a work permit
UBO disclosureMandatory

Residence through investment

Ukraine does have an investor route, and the figure that matters is EUR 100,000 contributed as foreign investment into the company's charter capital.

Investor thresholdEUR 100,000 as foreign investment
Usual outcomeTemporary residence permit, renewable
Permanent residenceAvailable where the investment exceeds EUR 100,000, subject to conditions
Alternative routeWork permit as director, then residence on that basis
Capital must beGenuinely contributed, not merely declared

Declared capital is not contributed capital

A charter can state any figure. The investor residence route depends on money actually brought into Ukraine as foreign investment and properly documented as such. Writing EUR 100,000 into a charter and never transferring it achieves nothing, and the paperwork proving the transfer is what the application turns on.

Martial law is in force

Ukraine remains under martial law. That affects travel, border crossing, banking checks and processing times, and rules can change quickly. Entry and transit to the occupied territories is prohibited, and anyone who has entered them without Ukrainian permission is refused entry to Ukraine altogether.

None of this prevents a foreign national from owning a Ukrainian company — but it does mean timelines should be treated as estimates, and travel plans made late rather than early.

Rules change. Ask us before you assume.

Under martial law this is more true of Ukraine than of anywhere else we work. The only answer that counts is the one for your nationality, your capital and the week you are asking in.

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