English level for Ukraine’s civil service: A2, B1 or B2, and how to prove it
The duty of Ukrainian civil servants to know English was written into law back in the summer of 2024, but for two years it stayed a frame with no figures in it. The frame was filled in during 2026: on 1 April two government resolutions set the levels, and on 24 June a third approved the list of documents that prove them. The question of how much English is needed is now fully answered; the question of how to prove it is answered halfway, because the list of documents exists while the procedure for the state exam does not.
Who is covered, and who is not yet
Law of Ukraine No. 3760-IX, on the application of the English language in Ukraine, names eleven groups of posts whose candidates must know English. Besides senior leadership, the list covers prosecutors, posts in the tax and customs authorities, the management of state-owned enterprises, and the research and education sectors. For five of the eleven groups the law adds a condition: the government defines the specific list of posts separately.
Ukrainian civil service posts fall into three categories, written А, Б and В in Ukrainian and rendered here as A, B and C; category A covers the most senior posts. For categories B and C that list came with Resolution No. 34. It covers posts that carry the powers of the head of the civil service in a state body, and posts in either category to which at least one of twenty named functions is attached, from drafting international treaties to registering English-language correspondence. The body itself then narrows the list further: the head of the civil service approves it against the body’s own structure and staffing schedule, and where no such posts exist, approves nothing at all. Resolution No. 34 does not extend to the tax and customs authorities, which have their own lists under Resolution No. 266.
The law sets out one exception separately. Where mobilisation is declared or martial law is introduced, the duty to know English does not apply to service personnel, to police officers or to the commanding ranks of other law enforcement bodies. No such relief is granted for the remaining posts on the list.
Which level applies: from A2 to B2
The bar depends not on rank but on what the person will actually do in English in the post. Because of that, two people in the same department may face different requirements.
| Level | Who and for what | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| A2 | By post: police officers of the middle and senior ranks, commanding ranks of other law enforcement bodies and of the civil protection service, the management of territorial bodies of the State Tax Service, chief state inspectors in the central apparatus of the State Customs Service. By duty: registering and sending English-language correspondence in category B and C posts | No. 425 |
| B1 | By post: category "A" civil service posts; heads of local state administrations and their first deputies and deputies; category "B" posts carrying the powers of the head of the civil service; directors, executive board members and supervisory board members of state-owned enterprises and of companies more than 50 per cent state-owned; the management of the State Customs Service and of individual customs offices; prosecutors. By duty: European integration tasks, replies to enquiries from foreign nationals, public services delivered to foreign nationals, digital projects run in English, organising events attended by foreign representatives | No. 415 and No. 425 |
| B2 | By post: heads of state research institutions and of higher education institutions, prosecution service units responsible for international cooperation. By duty: international cooperation, international treaties, negotiations, raising loans and credits, reviewing and editing English-language documents, English-language correspondence, a body’s external communications, protocol work and visits abroad | No. 425 |
For the tax and customs authorities, the prosecution service and the education and research sector, Resolution No. 425 provides tables of its own, listing a level against each individual post, so those groups need to check there rather than here. The education and research table has one more feature: it carries two columns of requirements, and the second, stricter one switches on five years after the resolution itself takes effect.
The gap between neighbouring rows is finer than the table suggests. Registering an English-language letter and sending it on is A2; drafting a reply to an enquiry from a foreign national is already B1; editing an English-language draft document or negotiating on the basis of one is B2. The answer to “which level do I need” therefore sits in the job description, whose wording matches the rows of this table almost word for word. What each bar actually means is set out in the English levels on the CEFR scale.
When the requirement takes effect
The deadlines differ, which is where the contradictory news reports come from. Resolution No. 415 takes effect two years after martial law in Ukraine ends or is cancelled. Resolutions No. 425, No. 34 and No. 266 take effect four years after the same event. Some outlets reported two years and others four, and both were quoting a correct document, simply a different one.
Martial law is still in force, so the countdown has not begun and no calendar date exists in any of these acts: any article naming a specific year is guessing. There is one practical consequence: there is more time to prepare than it looks, and spreading that preparation over years is entirely realistic.
What proves the level: the list under Resolution No. 816
On 24 June 2026 the government approved the list of documents that certify a person’s command of English. It contains a single state certificate, issued on the results of the exam the law provides for. The international certificates are grouped below by issuing body, with names given exactly as the resolution records them.
| Issuing body | Certificates on the list |
|---|---|
| British Council | Aptis ESOL General, Aptis ESOL Advanced, Aptis ESOL for Teachers |
| Cambridge Assessment English | Cambridge English Skills Test General, Cambridge English Skills Test Business, Cambridge English Qualifications |
| IELTS consortium | IELTS Academic Test, IELTS General Training Test, IELTS for UKVI |
| LanguageCert | LanguageCert ESOL, LanguageCert Academic, LanguageCert General, LanguageCert Academic SELT for UKVI, LanguageCert General SELT for UKVI |
| Michigan Language Assessment | Michigan English Test (MET) |
| Oxford University Press | Oxford Test of English, Oxford Test of English Advanced |
| Pearson | PTE Academic, PTE Academic UKVI, PTE Core |
| ETS | TOEFL iBT, TOEFL PBT |
| Trinity College London | ISE (Integrated Skills in English) |
An international certificate has to meet exactly two conditions: it must be valid, and its authenticity must be verifiable electronically. It is worth checking the full name together with the issuing body: the list includes Cambridge English Skills Test Business but not Linguaskill Business, and it does not include the Duolingo English Test either.
For any other purpose this changes nothing: Linguaskill Business remains a working business exam for employers and careers; it simply did not make the government list used for appointments. Nor does the list affect how international language exams differ in format and validity period.
Resolution No. 816 took effect on 30 June 2026, but that is not the day the list starts to apply. For candidates for civil service posts it works alongside Resolutions No. 415 and No. 425, that is after the two-year and four-year countdowns. It came into use earliest for local self-government posts, where documents on this list have been accepted since 27 June 2026.
There is a point in preparing the document early: the resolution expressly allows certificates issued before it starts to apply to be used for their full validity period. Today, though, that means an international certificate.
The state exam does not exist in practice yet. The law instructed the government to approve the procedure for running it, and as of September 2026 no such resolution exists. The central executive body responsible for education and research is to organise the exam once the procedure appears. Whichever document a candidate ends up with, they submit it before the appointment.
The supplement should not be confused with the requirement placed on candidates: it is a separate rule for people already in post, and it is not in force. Part six of Article 4 takes effect on the day martial law ends or is cancelled and runs for four years; the procedure for civil servants was approved by Resolution No. 368, which starts at the same moment.
Four questions that come up immediately
What is worth doing while the countdown has not started:
- find the wording from the table above in your own job description: that is what sets A2, B1 or B2;
- measure your actual level with an online English level test and see the distance to the bar you need;
- if you are planning an international certificate, check its exact name against the Resolution No. 816 list before paying the registration fee;
- practise the very functions listed in your job description: correspondence, enquiries, negotiations, documents.
That last point is the whole difference between learning English and meeting a requirement attached to a post. You close that gap with English courses for civil servants: general level is built up with a teacher on the same working tasks you deal with every day.
Primary sources: Law of Ukraine No. 3760-IX (Ukrainian: «Про застосування англійської мови в Україні»), and Cabinet of Ministers Resolutions No. 34 of 14 January 2025, No. 266 of 7 March 2025, No. 368 of 1 April 2025, No. 415 and No. 425 of 1 April 2026, and No. 816 of 24 June 2026. Checked on 5 September 2026.