uResidency

Kitsoft developed the comprehensive uResidency service on the Diia portal. Citizens of other countries will be able to register and conduct business in Ukraine online easily.

Image: The uResidency online service will allow foreigners to do business in Ukraine online from anywhere in the world. 

The special status of electronic residency is granted to foreigners by the Ukrainian government and allows them to register a business and pay taxes in Ukraine. All stages in the uResidency system — from applying for e-resident status to opening a bank account and paying taxes — are done online.

Currently, the service is available for IT entrepreneurs from 4 countries: India, Pakistan, Thailand, and Slovenia. In the future, the program will expand to citizens of other countries and other sectors of the creative economy.

E-residency in Ukraine is not available to citizens of Russia and Belarus, as well as to countries included in the FATF’s «gray» or «black» lists — the Financial Action Task Force. The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine determines the list of countries whose citizens can obtain e-resident status.

The e-residency program in Ukraine will contribute to increasing budget revenues, developing the banking sector, attracting investments, and expanding export potential.

Estonia was the first country to introduce e-residency in December 2014. Any foreign citizen can obtain e-resident status, and the system itself is entirely remote. In June 2021, Lithuania adopted a similar e-residency system with certain differences. Unlike Estonia’s, it is not completely remote, and some steps require physical presence in the country.

Since 2018, Azerbaijan has also implemented electronic and mobile residency. At the end of 2023, the country launched the Asan İmza technology, which allows the use of 600+ electronic services. Portugal is also working on developing an e-residency based on the Estonian model. Similar programs are planned to be launched in several other countries, including the USA, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, and Brazil. 

The possibility of obtaining an e-residency was initiated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation in 2020 to simplify business operations in Ukraine for foreigners. However, the technical part of the program was not realized at the time.

The implementation of e-residency required many changes in regulatory documents and establishing technical interaction between various government agencies, including:

• The National Bank of Ukraine;
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine;
• The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine;
• The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine;
• The Security Service of Ukraine;
• The State Tax Service of Ukraine.

On April 1, 2023, changes were made to the Tax Code of Ukraine, making the concept of e-residency possible. In September of the same year, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a resolution regulating the operation of the uResidency system and the protection of personal data. 

Image: Application for e-residency status.

The Kitsoft team developed a portal and a set of services for foreign citizens to obtain and revoke e-resident status, including:

• State registration of individual entrepreneurs and termination of business activity;
• Opening and closing current accounts;
• Use of QES (qualified electronic signature);
• Appointment scheduling with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for identity verification;
• Informing the State Tax Service about e-resident statuses;
• Assignment of the Taxpayer Identification Number;
• Obtaining a criminal record check;
• Interaction with the Security Service of Ukraine for applicant verification.

To ensure all functions, we have established interaction and data exchange with the IT systems of all involved government agencies via API, as well as through the mobile app «uResidency». 

Before the official launch of the system, there was a closed beta testing phase for citizens of India and Pakistan.

1. A foreign citizen applies for e-resident status through their account on the portal https://e-resident.diia.gov.ua/

The application is automatically translated into Ukrainian. The submitted data is checked against open sanctions lists to ensure no connections with russia.

2. The application undergoes financial and security checks. At the same time, an automatic request is sent to the Ministry of Internal Affairs via the «Trembita» system to obtain a criminal record certificate.

Information about the applicant is displayed in the personal accounts of Security Service of Ukraine and Foreign Diplomatic Institutions.

3. If the Security Service of Ukraine check is successful and there are no criminal records in Ukraine, the application is sent to the State Tax Service, where a Taxpayer Identification Number is reserved for the applicant.

According to the Tax Code of Ukraine, submitting an application for e-resident status is equivalent to personally submitting a tax registration form and an application for registration in the State Register of Individuals – Taxpayers.

Image: Workflow of the e-Resident system.

4. In the personal English-language account of the e-resident on the Diia portal, it becomes possible to schedule an appointment at a Ukrainian foreign diplomatic mission in their country via the e-Queue.

This is a resource of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs used for scheduling appointments at a Foreign Diplomatic Institutions for identity verification. A consulate employee checks the applicant’s physical documents for consistency with the submitted data. If the check is successful, a request is sent to the State Tax Service to assign the Taxpayer Identification Number.

The functionality for booking time slots and making appointments at Foreign Diplomatic Institutions, as well as the system interface for booking in the e-Queue, was also developed by Kitsoft specialists.

5. A foreign citizen obtains e-resident status in Ukraine.

Using the uResidency mobile app, they can generate a Diia.Signature and register a business in Ukraine online and remotely open a bank account*.

*currently, this service is only available with «PrivatBank».

• The opportunity to conduct business in Ukraine as an individual entrepreneur under the specified program areas, open bank accounts, and manage them.
• A simplified taxation system under the third group of individual entrepreneurs – 5% of the e-resident’s income within the established limits of the Tax Code. If the limit is exceeded – at a rate of 15%.
• Exemption from filing a single taxpayer declaration and other forms of reporting (this responsibility falls on the tax agent, which is the bank where the e-resident has opened their current account).

The uResidency project is implemented with the support of the European Union under the EU4DigitalUA and DT4UA projects, which are being implemented by the Estonian e-Governance Academy. The project’s communication support is provided by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) as part of the EU4DigitalUA project.