Ukraine’s 18-22 Male Travel Restriction Lift Two Months Later – What’s Going On?

The big news by the end of August 2025 was that the government is finally doing a travel restriction lift for males 18-22 years old after three and a half years of total travel ban due to martial law and mobilization.

• That restriction seemed strange because at first the draft age was starting at 27 years old and later on it got lowered to 25 years old. But the legislation moves in mysterious ways and that’s that.

Then – out of nowhere the President has announced that males aged 18 and 22 will no longer be barred from leaving and the parliament made it official soon after.

• The public reaction was mixed at best and baffled at worst.

September came and the new regulations came into play. Here’s how things are going a couple of months in.

The Possible Impact of 18–22 Travel Restriction Lift on the Labour Market? 

On the surface, the sharp increase in young people leaving the country has the potential to destabilize the labour market. Worst case scenario – it can trigger a full-on crisis for junior-middle positions two-three quarters later before businesses adapt and find effective solutions to mitigate.

• However, since the labour market is already in crisis.
• So this particular change does not drastically alter the overall situation.

Two months in is enough time to assess the initial trends.

• According to the Border Control reports – there was a spike in the said demographic crossing the border right after the travel restriction lift but after that it petered out  the real impact of this decision.
• As of late October there is a tendency for 18-22 males to cross the border but it is evened out by the 18-22 males coming back to Ukraine.

Reasons to leave vs Reasons to stay

It’s important to understand the motivation behind leaving—it’s not simply about “escaping the war.”

A major role is played by factors beyond citizens’ control:

• direct threats to life from the aggressor state’s terrorist actions;
• bureaucratic arbitrariness (not only related to mobilization, but also to doing business in general);
• the lack or instability of decently paid jobs in the regions.

One way or another, people choose to move abroad to improve their personal well-being.

• If there are not enough opportunities within the domestic market, they may be found elsewhere.
• The lack of local knowledge often makes those foreign opportunities seem more attractive.

The peak outflow of employable citizens occurred in 2022, yet the labor market did not collapse as a result—even though there has long been a persistent shortage of qualified personnel.

Is The Ukrainian Tech Segment vulnerable to the worker outflow due to travel restriction lift?

By late October, the service and retail sectors reported the strongest impact from the departure of young workers.

• These are entry-level or low-skilled positions with limited prospects for professional growth.

In the IT sector, workers aged 18–22 are mostly junior or entry-level specialists.

• This type of tech talent has limited experience and their salaries are mostly on the lower end until they get more experience.
• Much smaller is the segment of middle-level professionals—mainly recent university graduates in IT-related fields.

These are wo key demographic groups in Ukraine’s tech sector have been most affected by the lifting of travel restrictions.

But there’s a catch.

Interest in moving abroad for tech professionals aged 18-22 remains limited even two months after the travel restriction lift.

• The relocation does not automatically guarantee an improved quality of life.
• There are many cases of IT specialists who, with company support, moved to offices in Poland but later returned—often due to disappointment with living conditions.

Polish IT companies have already passed the peak of their interest in hiring Ukrainian specialists.

• One of main reasons why is because the economic advantage has diminished as salary expectations between Polish and Ukrainian professionals have largely equalized. Therefore it makes no sense to hire Ukrainian specialists when their salaries are now almost the same as Polish. Skills matter but it’s a different story.

Survey results indicate that the outflow of male employees aged 18–22 from the Ukrainian tech sector remains low.

• Only a few employees have chosen to resign for relocation abroad, and the trend remains limited in scale.
• As of late October 2025, it is a bunch of singular cases that don’t constitute a trend as of late October 2025.

Things may change down the line though. That is important to keep in mind.

It may simply be a matter of time, and mass resignations among younger employees could become more common during Q4 2025 and beyond.

• Right now, these people may still be in the stage of resolving “organizational matters.”

At present, if a company is losing a significant number of junior-level employees, this likely reflects its lack of competitiveness in the labor market rather than the new permission for young men to leave the country.

What will happen during Q4 2025 and beyond? Will the departure of 18-22 males tank the labour market?

The Ukrainian Tech Segment Labour Market is already knee-deep in the talent crisis with or without the travel restriction lift.

Its primary driving forces are volatile economic conditions, cost of living crisis and mobilization dampening any substantial developments.

• Adding one more figure to the equation will make matters more complicated down the line but it doesn’t change the challenge itself.
• In of itself, the trend appears to be threatening, but so are drone strikes and blackouts.

Between 2022 and 2025, we’ve seen a growing trend of school graduates leaving the country. It was accompanied by a sustained demand for permission for young men not subject to mobilization to travel abroad.

• Back in September 2025 it seemed like there would be a full-on “fever period” lasting around six months. After that the migration trends will return to the more typical pattern that has existed since 2022.
• But as of late October 2025, the trend hasn’t developed as expected — something else appears to be influencing it.
• Maybe it is the expectation that the war is going to end sooner than later. Maybe it is something else.

One thing is clear.

• The demand for relocation abroad depends largely on factors outside economic processes.
• If aggression against civilians intensifies, this will further motivate people to seek safer living conditions, likely outside Ukraine.
• Changes in mobilization procedures or an increase in related abuses could also serve as strong incentives to leave, though it remains unclear how this might manifest in migration dynamics.