On the basis of the expert sociological survey, the authors have analyzed the problems of Ukrainian citizens’ living and working abroad. The authors argue that in recent years the priorities and migration orientations of the expert group have changed in favour of the Western European countries, in particular, Poland and the Czech Republic. The paper proves that in 90% of cases, Ukrainians referred to intermediaries (usually individual persons and employment agencies) while arranging their first visit abroad. At the same time, they gained both positive and negative experience of such cooperation. Depending on the form of the migration process organization (independently or via intermediaries), a number of economic and organizational risks of Ukrainian migrants’ employment abroad concerned the delayed processing of documents for emigration, problems with settlement at the place of arrival, unsatisfactory working conditions in the destination country, lower salaries, hidden commissions for intermediary agencies, etc. The assumption concerning immaturity of the market of migration services in Ukraine was confirmed by the experts claiming that quality of organization of the labour migration process via intermediaries did not always depend on the cost of their services. Moreover, the paper confirms that the ‘shadow’ segment of this market is actively developing, as well as new schemes of unfair or illegal mediation are emerging in Ukraine. In this situation, it is necessary to raise the awareness of the population on issues of living and working abroad. It is also obligatory to increase social responsibility of intermediaries by motivating them to secure legal provision of migration services through the information support of those entities that carry out activities on legal grounds (marketing of legal migration services). Another way to improve the functioning of the market of migration services in Ukraine concerns the strengthening of information and analytical support for abroad employment intermediation. In this context, it is necessary to elaborate an interactive map of intermediaries by the regions of Ukraine showing the detailed information on their activities, in particular, their types and official status, a range of services, ratings, and etc. Permanent monitoring of the situation is considered to serve as the basis for developing a national concept of the market of migration services taking into account regional peculiarities of its implementation. 

migration process, labour emigration, market of migration services, employment intermediation, social responsibility, expert survey 

The role and place of migration services market entities in the system of institutional environment of the migration regulation are defined. Activities of the main participants of this market (the State Migration Service, Centers of Administrative Services (CASs), the State Enterprise «Document», foreign embassies, consular offices and visa application offices) are analyzed. It is emphasized that basic tasks of the State Migration Service concern work with foreigners and stateless persons, who appealed for protection in Ukraine; registration of residence and documentary accompaniment for individuals; issuance of foreign passports of the citizen of Ukraine. The necessity of optimization of their resource provision and popularization of activities is grounded. The authors emphasize that one of the most substantial problems related to organization of the activities of CASs, as essential subjects of the market of migration services, are the absence of minimum acceptable criteria for equipping the facilities, staff imbalance, insufficient content of their web pages and often invalid online registration of citizens. The apper proves that quality and amount of provided services in every center depend on volitional decisions and financial resources of local councils, which have created them. The authors note that regional CASs have the widest spectrum of services and the highest level of service. They render administrative services on non-commercial principles. In the article, the authors revealed the growing dynamics of foreign passports issuance for the period of 2015-ІІІ q. – 2018 showing a distinct shift to the biometric documents since December 2016. The necessity of setting up new visa application offices with wide range of authorities on rendering visa services for the purpose of minimization of services in visa centers is emphasized. Visa center is considered as a non-state intermediary organization, which is an official representative of an embassy responsible for acceptance and processing of documents necessary for obtaining the visa. VFS Global is the operator of visa centers in Ukraine. On the basis of the research, the authors propose the formation of unified information search base for collecting clear, complete and reliable data on providing the full range of migration services. 

market of migration services, entities of the market of migration services, State Migration Service, embassies, CASs, institutional environment, migration services