Ask HN: Ukrainians who were working in the IT sector, how are you?

[hbarka]

How are you all doing? Will any of you come to the US under the refugee program?

Before the war [1], 4% of GDP, employed 200k people.

but for many in the country’s bustling tech hubs of Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and Dnipro business has been better than ever. The country’s rapidly growing IT industry saw exports grow by 20.4 percent in 2020 crossing $5 billion for the first time, according to figures from the National Bank of Ukraine.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/future/ukraine-innovating-for-the-future/ukraines-dynamic-it-sector

[malkan]

Hey, I am from Kyiv, but currently reside in EU trying to get a temporary residence permit which should allow me to work legally in EU. Before the war things were going great. Most Ukrainian IT companies worked with clients from EU and USA via the outsourcing model. There were many companies and projects to choose from, the market was hot. Now, I don't know the real stats, but I've heard from colleagues that some companies are losing clients (they are looking to replace their Ukrainian outsource teams due to fear). Also, Ukraine does not allow male citizen to leave the country, so it's now impossible to just move all staff to another country. So it's not very good, yeah. I am privileged in a way because the war caught me and my family while we were on a vacation outside of Ukraine. I was working remotely and continue to do so for the same Ukrainian company. I am not sure what to do next though. Reading up on tax laws, I've found that I'm going to have to pay the EU taxes if I stay here for more than 183 days. Which is a bit crazy because EU tax is much much bigger than Ukrainian - and the company isn't going to raise my salary to compensate for it. Other problem is I am using my Ukrainian bank account, and now all Ukrainian banks are limiting the transfers of money from Ukr. accounts to foreign accounts. Plus, they're limiting the amount of cash I can withdraw to about 3000 euros per month. Also, I am afraid that they can introduce further limitations - or who knows? Even worse - block all withdrawal. I don't believe that the Ukrainian bank system will completely collapse, but then again, almost no one believed in the full scale war with Russia a few months ago.

> Will any of you come to the US under the refugee program?

I am in Spain at the moment, and I'm not sure it's the best place to be for a software engineer. I need to research the market here and in other places too. I've been in US on a business trip in 2019 and really enjoyed it. It'd be awesome to be able to come to US and work there, but I don't know much about the refugee program. The EU was pretty clear about their program, but I haven't heard of anything similar (i.e. easy program for temporary residence with right to work) in US. If you have any useful URLs to share - I'd appreciate it.

[hbarka → malkan]

This official site is pretty comprehensive: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/i...

[epirogov]

here in UA. Continue working + I am rendering AI generated images for shutterstock + I am trying to conquer fiverr with own soft + I am preparing my bunker for nuke strike. it is illegal to be outside of UA for male citezens 16-60.