International migration is an important component for the socio-economic development of contemporary Ukraine. Scientists have developed a wide range of approaches to its analysis. Nevertheless, migration studies through the time prism are currently at their initial stage. In terms of temporal concepts, the humanities use ideas about social and economic time which are not similar to its astronomical understanding. Temporal modes of the past, present and future are basic elements in the glossary of social processes temporal analysis. The purpose of this article is to explore the international migration of Ukrainians within the temporal approach, to identify significant relationships between the past, present and future in order to develop an in-depth understanding of migration. This publication uses methods of analysis, synthesis, abstraction, comparison; illustration of the main ideas is based on empirical data collected through sociological and statistical methods. The analysis showed that despite the wide spread of temporal variables in migration their presence is often neglected by both scientists and migrants. Even the action of moving abroad is itself a transformation of present life activity to improve various aspects of the future quality of life. The increased orientation of migrants towards the future (i.e., towards achieving the plans underlying the motivation for employment abroad) often shapes the conditions of stay in the destination countries. Thus, labor migrants from Ukraine who went abroad to maximize income, strictly saving their earnings in destination countries to accumulate funds for remittances home. Migration money are spent to satisfy needs of household members left behind at the present time (i.e., while migrants are abroad), and are also aimed at creating a material basis for maintaining the future quality of life for migrants after they return home.