Estonian employers: State must be flexible in granting work permits to Ukrainians

  • 2022-02-28
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN – According to the Estonian Employers' Confederation, the state bureaucracy in issuing or extending work permits to Ukrainians should be very flexible at this point, as providing Ukrainians with work and shelter in Estonia helps them to support their loved ones back at home in Ukraine.

"It is clear that Ukrainian workers are very welcome and necessary in Estonia. Without their contribution, it would be very difficult, especially in construction and manufacturing. Therefore, it is important that they all be able to stay in Estonia or find shelter here from the sufferings of war. Their adult family members would certainly find employment on the labor market here as well," the manager of the association, Arto Aas, told BNS on Monday.

Aas stressed that the most important thing at the moment is for Russia to stop the hostilities in Ukraine and for peace to be restored.

"The loss of innocent lives cannot be measured in money and economic concerns are secondary at the moment," he said.

The manager of the Estonian Employers' Confederation noted that it is very important for Estonian business operators that Ukrainian workers and their family members are safe and secure. Since  the events are so fresh now, it is still difficult to say how all this will affect the Estonian economy and the labor market, Aas added.

"We have heard that some Ukrainians here have left for the front. There are also those who have gone to bring their families here. While there is no mass movement yet, but as I said, events are very fresh and things can change every day," Aas added.