How to buy shares in a foreign company from Ukraine or the EU

So, you decided to buy some Apple or ASML shares? It’s mechanically as difficult as buying a book online. The hard part is everything around it – does your country let the money leave, which broker will take you as a client, and what do you owe the tax office? And the answers are completely different depending on if you’re sitting in Kyiv or Krakow. So what do you do in these scenarios? 

What you actually need to buy foreign shares

You’ll need four things:

• A broker. Private individuals can’t trade directly on an exchange. A broker is a licensed intermediary who takes your order, executes it in the market, and holds the shares in your account.
• An account with that broker. Opening one means identity checks, proof of address, and questions about your income and where your money came from. 
• Money that can legally reach that account. This step is often the most frustrating and it’s mostly about where you live.
• An understanding of the tax. You owe something on profits and on dividends, and in most cases, nobody withholds it for you automatically.

If you live in an EU country, all four are very simple. You open an account with a European broker, send money by SEPA transfer, and buy. That’s literally it. 

But if you live in Ukraine, the third point is a legal restriction. Under martial law, the National Bank temporarily prohibits cross-border settlements for securities purchases and brokerage fee payments and outright blocks card payments to securities brokers and dealers. Funding a foreign broker from a Ukrainian bank account is not currently possible for individuals.

That doesn’t mean investing is absolutely impossible. There are other legal routes. What matters is your country of residence, not your citizenship. A Ukrainian citizen living in Warsaw follows the EU path.

How to choose a broker

There’s no single “best broker in the world”, and every article claiming otherwise is just paid material. But there are a few questions worth answering before you make a choice:

• Can you actually fund it from where you live? Ask this first, because it removes most of the list before anything else matters. A broker with brilliant fees you can’t legally send money to is not an option.
• Is it regulated, and by whom? A licence from a serious regulator – a national authority in the EU, the SEC and FINRA in the US – means supervision, segregated client assets, and a compensation scheme if the firm fails. Any platform that can’t answer this question clearly is a bad choice. 
• What happens to your money if the broker fails? Compensation schemes have limits, and they vary. In the EU, national investor compensation schemes often cap the amount per investor. It’s worth knowing the number beforehand.
• Which markets does it give you? If you want US shares, most brokers can do that. If you want a specific European exchange, or something more exotic, check before opening.
• What does it really cost? Three separate things: commission per trade, currency conversion when you buy in a currency you don’t hold, and any custody or inactivity fee. The third is for people who trade rarely.
• Can you get your money back out, and how? Withdrawal options, fees, and limits matter as much as deposits. For anyone in a higher-risk jurisdiction, brokers often restrict withdrawals to the account you funded from, which makes your first deposit a big decision.

If you live in the EU

As mentioned before, if you’re currently in an EU country, the whole process is pretty simple. It usually involves four steps: 

1. Open a broker account that works in your country. Most European brokers operate across the whole EU, but the entity that ends up holding your account is usually assigned based on your country of residence. Expect the usual onboarding: ID, proof of address, tax number, and questions about your income and investing experience.
2. Fund it by SEPA transfer. Euro transfers inside the EU are cheap and usually arrive within a day. Be sure to send from an account in your own name because brokers usually reject third-party payments.
3. Buy. Find the share, choose the exchange if there’s more than one option, decide how much to buy, and place the order. 
4. Save the paperwork. Your broker’s annual statement is what you’ll need to pay taxes.

Keep in mind two things:

• The same company can be listed on several exchanges. A German investor can often buy the same US share on a US exchange in dollars or on a German one in euros. You can do it either way. 
• Conversion costs are still there. If your account is in euros and you buy in dollars, the money will be converted. The broker’s rate is usually much better than a bank’s, but it’s still a cost that adds up, and it applies again when you sell.

Why a European can’t buy a US ETF

Shares aren’t affected – Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, among others, all work fine from an EU account. But ETFs are affected. Under the EU’s PRIIPs rules, any packaged product sold to retail clients needs a Key Information Document, and most US ETF issuers have never produced one. Without this key, European brokers are legally required to block the order.

Note that it isn’t illegal for you – the restriction is on the broker’s ability to sell, not your right to buy and own. There’s a workaround: UCITS ETFs domiciled in Europe that track the same indices, with the paperwork required by EU rules.

ADRs: buying a foreign company on a US exchange

An American Depositary Receipt (ADR) is a certificate issued by a US depositary bank that represents shares in a foreign company. The actual shares sit with a custodian bank in the company’s home countryю The ADR stock is what trades on a US exchange, in dollars. So a company listed only in Tokyo or Sao Paulo can still be bought through a normal US-listed instrument, with dividends converted into dollars before they reach your account.

Two categories exist:

• Sponsored ADRs are set up jointly by the company and the depositary bank under a formal agreement, and most trade on the NYSE or Nasdaq with full SEC reporting. 
• Unsponsored ADRs are created by a depositary bank without the company’s involvement, which means the holder bears all the costs, and the bank is often under no obligation to pass on shareholder communications or voting rights. These typically trade “over the counter”.

A few useful things to know:

• Fees come out of your dividends. Depositary banks charge custody fees, usually a fraction of a cent to a few cents per share annually, deducted from dividend payments rather than billed separately.
• Withholding tax still applies. The company’s home country takes its cut before the dividend is converted, and your own country then taxes what arrives.
• Not every company has one. Coverage is limited, and ADR shares can be cancelled if the company delists or the bank ends the programme.
• Liquidity varies widely. Exchange-listed sponsored ADRs trade actively, while OTC ones often don’t.
• For EU investors, ADRs are generally available through European brokers, unlike US-domiciled ETFs. If a specific ADR matters to you, check availability with your broker before opening an account.

If you live in Ukraine

Under martial law, the National Bank restricted the movement of money abroad for investment purposes. At the moment of publication, the situation looks like this: 

• Card payments are blocked. Settlements abroad for buying securities and paying brokerage fees using cards issued by Ukrainian banks are prohibited, and payments to merchant category 6211 – securities brokers and dealers – are blocked completely.
• Foreign securities can’t leave the depositary system. Since 1 January 2025, foreign issuers’ securities cannot be withdrawn from Ukraine’s depositary accounting system for the duration of martial law. There are a few exceptions: issuer corporate actions, and reconciling Central Depository records with international depositaries.

Investing isn’t closed or prohibited as is. Restrictions focus on the money crossing the border for securities purchases. They don’t prohibit buying international stocks inside Ukraine, and they don’t affect an account you already hold abroad.

There are a few realistic options. Please note that both are verified as of the publication date. Before committing, be sure to double-check. 

Buying through a Ukrainian broker

Certain foreign securities have been admitted to circulation in Ukraine by the NSSMC. You buy them through a licensed Ukrainian broker, in hryvnia, in a domestic transaction, so the NBU’s cross-border restrictions don’t apply, because nothing crosses a border. When the regulator first admitted S&P 500 shares for trading here, it reasoned that their quality was already confirmed by their listing abroad.

In August 2026, the Commission admitted five more foreign UCITS ETFs registered in Germany and Ireland.

You’ll have to open an account with an NSSMC-licensed broker, pass identity verification, fund it in hryvnia, and buy what’s available.

Keep in mind:

• There’s not much choice. You can buy what’s been admitted, not the whole global market.
• You can’t take the securities out. Since 1 January 2025, foreign issuers’ securities can’t be withdrawn from Ukraine’s depositary system while martial law is in effect. 
• Liquidity is thin. These aren’t heavily traded on the Ukrainian market, which affects how easily you can sell and at what price.

An account with a foreign broker

Holding foreign stocks and shares isn’t the problem in itself – Ukrainian law allows it. But getting money to the broker is complicated and convoluted.

This best fits three groups: people who already had a foreign brokerage account before the restrictions, people with income or an account abroad that never passes through the Ukrainian banking system, and people who have relocated and now bank somewhere in the EU.

For everyone else, it depends on the e-limit – the mechanism allowing individuals to transfer a capped annual amount abroad, including for international investment. It has been suspended, partially restored, and revised repeatedly since 2022, and the NBU announced a further package of currency easing in August 2026. Any figure quoted anywhere, including here, needs to be checked against the current position. Ask your own bank what it will process today, because banks apply these rules individually.

Two things to know regardless of how you do it:

• Money must come from an account in your own name. Brokers usually reject third-party deposits.
• Expect to prove where the money came from. Your bank will almost surely ask, and it’s the most common reason a transfer gets blocked.

Carrying cash across the border

There’s another way some people try: take the money physically, cross the border, and deposit it in an EU bank. All legal, but you must keep in mind a few things: 

• When you leave Ukraine. Residents can carry up to the equivalent of €10,000 in cash without written declaration. Above that, you must declare it in writing and provide documents confirming the money’s legal origin. If you don’t do that under Article 471 of the Customs Code, with a fine of 20% of the amount over the limit – carry €15,000 undeclared and the penalty is calculated on the €5,000 excess.
• Entering the EU. The same €10,000 threshold, but it’s a hard declaration requirement. Anyone entering or leaving the EU with that amount or more must declare it to customs.

Getting the cash across is not really hard, but depositing it is. Your source of funds documents explain where the money came from. They don’t explain how it physically entered the country. Without the customs declaration, a European bank has a cash deposit it can’t account for. 

If you move cash across the border, be sure to declare at the border even when you’re under the threshold and it’s optional, and keep the stamped declaration. It’s just a few minutes, but it saves you a lot of time later. 

We’ve put together a checklist of what triggers blocks and how to prepare before you move money: here.

Which method works best for larger sums

For larger sums, from around €10,000 and up, the most effective method is digital assets, and it runs in four steps: assets converted through a licensed European provider, a neobank account opened in the client’s own name, income and source of funds confirmed to that bank, and then a euro transfer to the broker.

It’s like a chain of events that depends on each previous step. The account only opens if the documentation is in order. The transfer only goes through if the bank is satisfied with the source of the funds. 

There is no real convenient equivalent at this size, at least for now. While there are services like TransferGo or Genome that are licensed and convenient, they’re used for small transfers – enough to top up an account with a few hundred or a few thousand euros. The only other option is carrying cash across the border, with the declarations and paperwork that it involves.

What happens after you buy

The order fills instantly. Everything else takes a little longer:

• Settlement. The trade confirms immediately, but the shares legally become yours at settlement. US, Canadian, and Mexican markets settle one business day after the trade (T+1). The EU, UK, and Switzerland still settle in two (T+2) and are scheduled to move to T+1 on 11 October 2027. 
• Dividends. If the company pays them, the funds are automatically credited to your account, minus withholding tax deducted at source in the company’s home country. 
• Corporate actions, including splits, mergers, name changes, and delistings. These happen to your shares without your involvement, and your broker processes them for you.
• Your annual statement. Every broker produces one. It’s the document you’ll need to file your taxes.

Taxes

There are two types of taxes applied: tax withheld abroad when the income is paid, and tax owed at home, and they don’t cancel out.

Dividends from US companies are taxed at source at 30% for non-residents. Filing a W-8BEN (the form your broker usually collects during onboarding) reduces that to the treaty rate. Under the Ukraine-US double taxation convention, in force since 5 June 2000, the rate for ordinary shareholders is 15%. Nothing is withheld on capital gains, and the US doesn’t tax non-residents on those.

If you’re a Ukrainian tax resident:

• Dividends from foreign companies – 9% personal income tax plus 5% military levy, so 14% total
• Investment profit from selling shares – 18% personal income tax plus 5% military levy, so 23% total

Investment profit is the difference between what you sold for and what you paid, both converted to hryvnia at the NBU exchange rate on the date of each transaction. Losses across the year can be offset against gains.

Where a double taxation treaty exists, tax already paid abroad can be credited against your Ukrainian liability, but you need official confirmation of the tax paid, your broker’s statement, and the tax office may request a notarised translation. Whatever you do, the 5% military levy is payable in Ukraine regardless.

You must declare taxes yourself, since nobody withholds them for you on foreign income. The annual declaration for the previous year is due by 1 May, with payment due by 1 August.

If you’re an EU tax resident, the rates and rules are national since there’s no universal EU rate. Some countries tax capital gains at a flat rate, others progressively, and some exempt gains after a holding period. Your broker may or may not withhold locally. If you’re not sure what applies or what to do, consult your local accountant. 

Common mistakes and what to check before your first purchase

Here are some popular mistakes to avoid and be aware of: 

• Not knowing how you’ll get the money out. Check withdrawal rules before your first deposit. Brokers often restrict clients in higher-risk countries to withdrawing only from the account they funded. 
• Assuming shares bought in Ukraine can be moved abroad later. Since 1 January 2025, foreign securities can’t leave Ukraine’s depositary system while martial law is in effect.
• W-8BEN form. It’s valid until the last day of the third calendar year after you signю So if you sign in 2026, it expires 31 December 2029. Let it expire, and US dividend withholding jumps from 15% back to 30%, with 24% backup withholding possible on sale proceeds. Brokers usually send reminders, but some people still ignore or forget.
• Not recording purchases in hryvnia at the time. Ukrainian investment profit is calculated in hryvnia at the NBU rate on each transaction date. Reconstructing years of trades in April is possible, but it will be a very miserable experience.
• Brokers don’t handle taxes. On foreign income, nobody withholds Ukrainian tax, and nobody files for you. The declaration is yours and is due by 1 May.
• Funding from someone else’s account. Rejected almost always, money comes back but often slowly
• Not checking which exchange you’re buying on. The same company often trades in several places, in different currencies. If you pick without looking, you may pay a conversion cost you didn’t actually need to.