23
Doing business in Uzbekistan
4.1. Employment
regulations
The Uzbek Labour Code and other
labour regulations
apply to both local
and foreign citizens, including stateless
persons, working in Uzbekistan on
the basis of employment agreements
with their employers. Furthermore,
employment relationships within
organizations that are fully or partially
owned by foreign legal entities or
individuals are also regulated by Uzbek
labour law.
An employment agreement with an
employee must be concluded in writing.
The terms of an employment agreement
are determined by mutual consent of
the employee and employer and must
also comply
with the requirements
established by the Labour Code and
other relevant labour regulations.
Employment agreements may be
concluded for a fixed or indefinite
term. An employment agreement may
establish a probation period, which
should not generally exceed 3 (three)
months.
The Unified National Labour System
was brought into use from 1 January
2020 with the aim of standardizing
and digitalizing employment relations.
It serves as an electronic database
of individuals’ employment histories,
effectively replacing the old system of
“labour books”. The Unified National
Labour
System includes information
on work experience and registered
employment relationships, including
details (e.g. date, registered number) of
employment agreements, amendments
thereto and termination of employment
agreements. All employment
agreements must be simultaneously
registered with the Unified National
Labour System.
At the time of writing, a new version
of the Labour Code is being drafted. It
is expected that the new Code may be
enacted during 2021 and will include
more extensive
provisions on the rights
and obligations of employees and
employers, as well as provisions aimed
at protecting the interests of various
categories of employees, regulating the
employment of foreign and stateless
persons, and establishing, personal data
protection and processing requirements.
4.2. Work permits
As a general rule, a foreign citizen who
comes to Uzbekistan to work (i.e. who
has been hired under an employment
agreement) may work in the country
only after
obtaining confirmation of
the right to work in Uzbekistan (“work
confirmation”) issued in his/her name
on the basis of the permit to hire foreign
labour (“work permit”) obtained by the
employer.
This rule applies to all foreign employees
except for those who are specifically
exempt, such as employees of ROs
accredited by the Accreditation
Authority (up to 5 (five) employees) or
individuals hired within the framework of
intergovernmental treaties.
Doing business in Uzbekistan
24
Although a work confirmation
may appear to be a personal work
permit for a foreign citizen, it is the
responsibility of the employer to apply
for it. Neither a work permit nor a
work confirmation
may be transferred
to other employers. Hence, a foreign
employee’s employment and his/her
work confirmation are attached to that
specific employer. Furthermore, only
local employers may apply for work.
Documents required to obtain a work
permit and work confirmation must
be submitted to a One-Stop-Shop
Centre, after which the documents are
transmitted to the government body
responsible for issuing work permits
and work confirmations - the Agency
for External Labour Migration Matters
(the «Agency»). As a rule, the Agency
has 15 (fifteen)
days to review the
application and issue a work permit.
The same timeframe applies to work
confirmations. In practice, when an
employer applies for a work permit
it should simultaneously apply for at
least one work confirmation. In this
case, the two processes are carried out
consecutively, and both documents are
normally issued within 30 (thirty) days.
A work permit is issued for a period of
1 (one) year and may be extended.
In order to create favourable conditions
for the attraction of qualified foreign
specialists, increase the investment
appeal of the Republic of Uzbekistan and
stimulate the
attraction of competitive
human resources, qualified and highly
qualified foreign specialists (experts)
may be granted work confirmations for
up to 3 (three) years with an unlimited
number of extensions.
25
Doing business in Uzbekistan
Please note that starting from 2021 the
requirement to obtain a work permit is
expected to be abolished. Instead,
a maximum quota for the hiring of
foreign personnel is expected to
be introduced. At the same time,
the requirement to obtain the work
confirmation that authorizes a
foreign citizen to work in Uzbekistan
is expected to continue to apply.
Updated regulations setting out the
new requirements have not yet been
published (at the time of writing).
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
