At the start of the year, representatives of the Center for International Migration and Integration (CIMI) made a visit to Ukraine to bolster cooperation between the two countries with regard to bringing construction workers to Israel. The Israeli delegation to Kyiv included the organization’s Director Alon Akerman and the Senior Deputy Director and Director of Labor Migration, Margarita Gorodnitsky, who were joined by representatives of the Population and Immigration Authority – Adv. Inbal Mashash, Head of the Foreign Workers Administration, and Shirly Raisin Sasson, Director of the Bilateral Agreements, Foreign Workers Administration.
During the visit, professional tests were conducted for 862 Ukrainian candidates. Those who passed the tests and the medical examinations and were successful in the lottery will arrive in Israel in the next two months. The visit included work meetings with Great Idea, Ukrainian NGO that is running the operation of recruitment process on the Ukrainian side, and representatives of the State Employment Center. Meetings were also held with the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine, Mr. Michael Brodsky and Israeli Consul in Ukraine, Ms Lilah Atias,who toured the vocational school (where professional test took place) and held a press conference. The goal of the visit was to coordinate with all parties involved in the process in order to increase the number of Ukrainian workers coming to Israel in 2022.
Construction workers from the Ukraine are recruited through a bilateral agreement that ensuresthat the process is transparent and orderlyand prevents the payment of illegal commission fees. Under the terms of the agreement, CIMI is responsible for running the operation in the country of origin, for providing information and explanations to the workers, for organizing the orientation process upon arrival in Israel, for running the Call Center in the workers’ mother tongue, and for research and evaluation.
