"There should be a solution in a few days." The Ministry of Digital Development told under what conditions IT specialists will be able to travel abroad

Deputy Minister of digital transformation for IT Development Alexander Bornyakov said that the Ministry of Digital Development, together with the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff and the Ministry of economy, are creating a mechanism by which IT specialists will be allowed to travel outside Ukraine for a short period of time. In addition, the Ministry of Digital Development considers the booking system of certain specialists through "Diya".

The model previously developed by the authorities assumes that the company will submit a limited list of people to travel abroad (for example, no more than 10%) and it will be considered by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Economy, which will issue a permit. The document will be received by the border guards and the person for whom it was issued. After that, the IT specialist can leave for the period specified in the permit, and to the country that is indicated there. Previously, we are talking about a business trip for a maximum of three weeks. The permit will apply to visiting conferences and business forums where you need to attend, showcase your business, and attract new customers. "It could have been postponed for a month or two, but now the situation is such that there is nowhere to postpone," Bornyakov said. A joint decision of all branches of government on permission to travel abroad for IT specialists should be ready in a few days. "There is already an understanding," Bornyakov said. The Ministry of Digital Development also wants to simplify the IT booking system. Now, according to the deputy minister, more than a thousand people have been booked using the standard mechanism, but it is "complex and opaque." And the entire IT industry is 280 thousand people. Therefore, the ministry plans to develop a booking mechanism through the Diya program.Details

According to Bornyakov, the problem of traveling abroad is becoming more and more urgent, because no one expected that the war would last so long, and now no one knows when it will end.

A number of large Ukrainian IT companies, in particular SoftServe, GlobalLogic and others, are in favor of allowing IT specialists to travel abroad.

Zhanna Kapitsa, CEO of the Transcarpathian IT cluster, spoke about booking IT specialists in an interview with DOU. According to her, the cluster already has 50 successful cases, but the procedure is complicated.

In early March, the minister of digital transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov published a letter urging not to mobilize IT specialists into the ranks of the Armed Forces, because they are involved in cyber support to the invaders. What lawyers, economists and the Ministry of digital development team say, DOU wrote here.

According to the Ukraine IT Report 2021, as of the beginning of this year, 285 thousand IT specialists worked in Ukraine, and the export of computer services amounted to 6 6.8 billion. Last year, the IT industry paid about UAH 23.5 billion in taxes and fees, and also brought the country 4% of GDP.