Designing public policy of selective migration and further integration of foreign skilled workers in Ukraine

The article offers the authors' attempt to combine the well-known conceptual framework for formation of a public policy of selective migration and the subsequent integration of foreign qualified workers with the designing core organizational tasks for their implementation in Ukraine. The logic of material disclosing covers solution of three interrelated tasks: first, to clarify the key issues underlying the choice of selective migration policy, namely, governance approaches to this problem based on supply and demand, the political choice between temporary and permanent migration and the selection of labor migrants ; second, to determine the parameters of state strategies for selective migration and integration of immigrants, which will be useful for modern Ukraine; third, identify five main problems of integration of skilled immigrants and propose five main measures to solve them. For this, the following research methods were used: analysis of documents (in terms of regulatory legal acts, statistical data, materials of scientific research); comparative method; methods of synthesis and induction. It is concluded that: (1) the most important contrast in the migration of skilled workers is the difference between migration programs based on the supply of migrants and demand-driven programs, where the employer is the «core», but the number of permits issued for the job depends on the calculated needs of the national or local labor market; (2) as more and more qualified immigrants arrive without an offer of employment, the issue of certification, recognition and further training remains relevant, especially in relation to regulated professions. However, the use of overqualified qualifications as a competitive advantage is more appropriate with insufficient knowledge of the language. The modern emphasis on the local and regional level in integration policy has already had an effect on public administration: in the European Union, cities are increasingly developing their own integration philosophy; the previously traditional hierarchical top-down model of distribution of funds from the capital to the localities is becoming less and less acceptable in the new conditions of the revision of the policy of integration of migrants in many European countries. Since anti-immigration sentiments still dominate in Ukrainian society, a renewed state policy could be to reverse this trend. We need a difficult explanatory work carried out by both state authorities and members of the expert community. Ordinary Ukrainians should receive information about the useful role of migrants in the economic and cultural development of Ukraine, bypassing negative stereotypes about the problem and uselessness of migrants. In order to minimize the potential conflict potential associated with social contradictions from immigration, the Ukrainian state needs to focus on eradicating the main cause of conflicts – mitigating the experience of social injustice experienced by vulnerable segments of the population, which often results in aggression and persistent rejection.