From one hand foreign investors can be considered as foreign corporate entities or natural persons acting on the territory of Ukraine (regardless the purpose of such activities) and accordingly having the equal rights with Ukrainian corporate entities and natural persons and having the same protection of their rights and interests on the territory of Ukraine from Ukrainian state authorities as the Ukrainian corporate entities and natural persons (however with some additional formalities required).

From the other hand Ukraine has special legal regulations covering foreign investments, namely the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments" effective as of April 25, 1996, which specially covers foreign investments into Ukraine and Ukrainian economy. Earlier the above law together with other Ukrainian regulations has provided foreign investors with special tax preferences, but later on the law was amended as far as such preferences were discriminative in relation to the Ukrainian corporate entities and private persons. So now the only preference for foreign investors is the possibility to make investment into the authorized capital of an existing or new Ukrainian corporate entity in form of certain industrial equipment or other property (i.e. import such property into Ukraine) without paying any import taxes and duties (VAT, customs duty, etc.). Therewith there are also established limitations for dispose of such property in Ukraine (i.e. if the property will be sold in Ukraine within 3 years starting from the moment of importing the same into Ukraine, the VAT and customs duties related to import of the same into Ukraine are to be paid by such investor in full). Therewith in order to use such benefit the foreign investor has to register his investment in Ukrainian authorities (such registration is not free and requires paying certain state duties).

Clause 2 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments" provides the following possible types of foreign investments in Ukraine:

- foreign currency, which is recognized by the National Bank of Ukraine to be the hard currency;

- currency of Ukraine – while reinvesting into the initial object of investment or into any other object of investment in accordance with laws of Ukraine on condition that the profit (income) tax has been duly paid in Ukraine from the reinvested amount;

- any movable and immovable assets and related to the same property rights;

- stocks, bonds, other securities and also corporate rights, which are appraised in the hard currency;

- monetary claims and rights to claim for the fulfillment of contractual obligations guaranteed by the first class banks and having value in the hard currency, confirmed in accordance with the laws (procedures) of the investor's country or international trade procedures;

- any kind of intellectual property and related rights including copyright, patents, trade marks (marks for goods and services), industrial samples, know-how, and others, which value has been expressed in the hard currency and confirmed in accordance with laws (procedures) of the investor's country or international trade procedures and by the expert's evaluation in Ukraine;

- rights to conduct business activities including the right of exploration and exploitation of natural resources granted according to the legislation or contracts, which value is confirmed in the hard currency according to the laws (procedures) of the investor's country or international trade procedures;

- other valuables in accordance with Ukrainian legislation in force.

Clause 3 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments" provides the following possible forms of foreign investments in Ukraine:

- partial participation in the authorized capital of corporate entities, which are being established jointly with Ukrainian corporate entities and natural persons, or acquisition of shares of the existing corporate entities;

- establishment of corporate entities completely owned by foreign investors, subsidiaries and branches of foreign corporate entities or full acquisition of the existing corporate entities;

- acquisition, which is not prohibited by the laws of Ukraine, of movable or immovable property (the real estate) including buildings, apartments, premises, equipment, transportation facilities and other property, by direct acquisition of the property and proprietary complexes or in the form of stocks, bonds and other securities;

- acquisition of the rights to use land and/or concessions for use of the natural resources on the territory of Ukraine by foreign investors, independently or jointly with Ukrainian corporate entities or natural persons;

- acquisition of other property rights;

- other types of investments, which are not prohibited by Ukrainian laws, including those based on agreements with agents of business activity in Ukraine without establishing a new corporate entity.

In other words, as it is also declared in clause 4 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments", foreign investors can invest into any objects, which aren't prohibited by Ukrainian laws.

Clause 5 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments" provides rules for evaluation of foreign investments in Ukraine. Namely it provides that the foreign investments and the investments of Ukrainian partners, including contributions to the authorized capital of the corporate entity, shall be appraised in the hard foreign currency and in Ukrainian currency as well according to the understanding reached by the parties, on the basis of prices at the international markets or at the market of Ukraine.

Foreign currency for investment shall be converted into the currency of Ukraine at the official rate set by the National Bank of Ukraine.

The profits, income, and other funds, received in the currency of Ukraine as the result of foreign investments, and which are being reinvested, shall be converted according to the official rate of the National Bank of Ukraine at the date of actual reinvestment.

As it was mentioned earlier above, the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments" provides some tax and duty exemptions for the foreign investors as well as some guarantees for the foreign investments. Therewith such exemptions and guaranties are provided only for investments, which were duly registered in Ukraine.

Clause 13 of the Law of Ukraine "On the Regime of Foreign Investments" provides that the state registration of foreign investments shall be made by the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, regional, Kyiv and Sevastopol City State Administrations within 3 working days after their actual contribution according to the procedure determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.