Getting money out of Ukraine, legally

Everyone writes about sending money to Ukraine. Almost nobody writes in English about the other direction, which is the question you get when a flat is sold, an inheritance is settled, or a Ukrainian account has been quietly accumulating rent for three years.

We do not publish the current limits on this page. They are set by the National Bank, they have changed repeatedly, and a figure typed here would be wrong within months — on a subject where being wrong by one number costs a reader a blocked transfer or a failed sale. What follows is the shape of the system, so you know what to ask and whom to ask. The National Bank is the authority, and your own bank applies it.

This is not financial or legal advice.

The shape of it

Since 2022 Ukraine has operated currency restrictions. For an individual, the practical effects fall into a few groups:

• Caps on ordinary outward transfers and on card spending abroad, usually expressed as a monthly amount, with separate treatment for cash withdrawals.
• Categories treated more generously, which have included things like paying for medical treatment and for education abroad. These carve-outs are the reason the honest answer to “can I move money out” is often it depends what for.
• Different rules by channel — a card payment, a P2P transfer to a foreign card, and a transfer from account to account are not automatically treated the same way.
• Documentation. Where money is allowed out for a purpose, expect to evidence that purpose.

The direction of travel has been gradual loosening as conditions permit, but “gradual” is doing real work in that sentence. Assume today’s rule, not last year’s, and not the one a forum remembers. When limits do move we note it in what changed, with the National Bank’s own announcement linked — that is the place to look for the current position, because this page deliberately carries no figures to go stale.

The three situations that bring people here

You sold a flat. The trap is sequencing: people agree a sale, then discover how the proceeds can leave. Ask your Ukrainian bank what is possible for a non-resident seller, in your circumstances, before signing anything. A sale that completes into an account you cannot use is not a completed sale. See the flat in Ukraine.

You inherited money or an account. First the estate has to actually be yours — that has its own six-month clock and comes first. The transfer question only arises afterwards.

Rent has been accumulating. A steady trickle rather than a lump sum, and often the easiest to handle within ordinary limits — but it is also the one with a tax tail in two countries. See tax when your money and your life are in two countries.

What to ask, and who to ask

Your Ukrainian bank is the right first call, because it applies the rules to actual accounts and knows what documentation it will want. Useful questions:

• What is currently permitted for someone in my position, from this type of account?
• Which purposes are treated as exceptions, and what evidence do you need for them?
• What is the difference, for me, between a card payment, a P2P transfer, and an account-to-account transfer?
• Is my residency status recorded correctly on this account? (This one catches people: your file may still say you live in Ukraine.)

If the large sum is a property sale, put these questions before agreeing the price rather than after: before you agree a price collects them by who you ask.

For anything large — a property sale, an estate — a Ukrainian lawyer or a bank’s private-client desk is worth the fee. Free legal aid, listed on where to look, is a reasonable starting point if the case is not straightforward.

The thing not to do

Do not use an informal courier, a “friend with a company account”, or an intermediary who offers to move funds around the rules for a percentage. Beyond the legal exposure, it is a structure with no recourse: if the money does not arrive, there is nobody to complain to. This pattern appears in the scams that target Ukrainians abroad for a reason — the people offering it know exactly how much you want the problem solved.

Where to check

The National Bank of Ukraine sets the rules and your own bank applies them. If something here has gone out of date, tell us.