Foreign language classes are very popular in Ukraine, young people understand that they do not have many opportunities without knowing a foreign language, parents try to have their children start learning another language as soon as possible.
So, tutoring a foreign language is an easy and fast way to get extra money. It can also be a profitable business that does not need much of financial investments and it is not too expensive to set it up. Below we will outline the process, requirements and costs.
BUSINESS REGISTRATION
Of course, you can give classes without any business registration when you do this via Skype or for a small group of people. But this is not a way to build business on it. If you think big, want a full-time occupation, many students, run advertisement, rent a premises for your classes, etc., then you need to be properly registered in order to avoid problems with the Tax Service and other state authorities.
WHICH BUSINESS FORM TO CHOOSE FOR A LANGUAGE SCHOOL
If you are already legally reside in Ukraine based on a temporary or permanent residence permit, then you may consider getting registered as a private entrepreneur. You can read about how to do this and what the cost of this is in our guide here.
If you do not have legal grounds for staying in Ukraine, then you can register a company in Ukraine. This way you will get Ukrainian residence for 3 years and will be able to officially run a language school. Having a company allows you also attract investments and partners more easily as you can give shares in your company to your business partners. The full process of company registration in Ukraine together with a process of getting residence is described in detail in our guide here.
HOW TO GET A LICENSE FOR A LANGUAGE SCHOOL IN UKRAINE
According to item 6 clause 1 article 7 of the Law of Ukraine On Licensing of Types of Business teaching activity is licensed in Ukraine. This means it is not enough to get a company or the private entrepreneur status. You also should obtain a license (a special permit).
However, do not be scared too early. A license is required, in this case, when at the end of your course you issue a certificate/diploma saying your student got some degree in a profession from a list of professions approved by the law.
In simple words, when you just teach English (or any other language) according to your own methodology and do not provide an official diploma recognized by Ukraine, then you don’t need a license. In this case you simply register your business (as a Private Entrepreneur or as a Company) and start your teaching.
In case your plan is to build a serious school giving official diplomas, then a license has to be obtained. Licensing of teaching is rather complicated and retaining a professional lawyer is a must here. You can request a legal advice on obtaining a license for teaching here.
ESTIMATED BUDGET
Below is an estimated budget we calculated based on the current market prices and interviews of language school owners we interviewed. Keep in mind that the numbers differ in different cities, so this is only a rough estimation.
UAH 2,000.00 – company registration
UAH 10,000.00 – furniture
UAH 3,000.00 – accountant per month
UAH 10,000.00 – office rent per month
UAH 2,000.00 – social taxes per employee per month
5% corporate profit tax per month
UAH 200 per hour is a standard price in Kyiv for a one-hour class given by a non-native speaker. Native speakers charge usually twice more that is absolutely justified.
FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE
Alexey, an owner of an English school in Kyiv stresses that: “A lot of efforts were spent on promotion and advertisement, developing a website, paid ads in Google and Facebook. We had a long going strategy and wanted our website to be among the first search results in Google so we paid for SEO from the first day that was a big chunk of our total budget.”.
Tim, a Kyiv expat from US giving private English classes, revealed us his PR secrets: “I didn’t have much money to start a real business so I started giving private classes. It was very easy to find students. I just asked my local friends and made a post on Facebook. I got so many requests that I invited everyone for a free speaking session in a park after which I got many leads and a number of first students. I still do such outdoor sessions.”.
Chris, who helps his friend run an English language summer camp, says: “A city based language school is of course different to a resort based school. In the resorts the kids come from privileged backgrounds, in general their level of English is low and they are here mainly as a glorified kindergarten... somewhere to drop kids for a few weeks whilst their parents escape on some expensive vacation).”.
Contact Legal Ideas law firm to get assistance in opening a language school or to get advice on obtaining a teaching license.