ruth901
Anyone between 17 and 45 needs to askCompletely overlooked law! The Bundeswehr must now allow men to travel abroad
“In an emergency, we need to know who is staying abroad for a longer period of time,” explains the Ministry of Defense.
picture alliance / CHROMORANGE / Michael Bihlmayer
The new conscription law has sparked strong protests among young people. Men of military age should obtain permission from the Bundeswehr for longer stays abroad. However, the regulation is currently purely theoretical.
As a result of the change in compulsory military service, men between the ages of 17 and 45 must apparently obtain permission from the Bundeswehr if they want to leave Germany for longer than three months. As the “Frankfurter Rundschau” reports, this regulation previously only applied in crisis cases, but has now been in force permanently since January 1, 2026.
According to the text of the law, approval from the responsible Bundeswehr career center is also necessary if men of the appropriate age “want to remain outside the Federal Republic of Germany beyond an approved period of time or want to extend a stay that does not require approval (…) beyond three months”. As a rule, there is no provision for the application to be rejected. A spokesman for the Ministry of Defense told ntv.de upon request that such approvals should generally be granted “since military service is based exclusively on voluntary activity under current law.”
The spokesman also said that the regulation already existed during the Cold War. At the time this would have had “no practical relevance” and “in particular it was not sanctioned”. The administrative regulations will make it clear “that the approval is deemed to have been granted as long as military service is voluntary”.
This affects all possible stays abroad, such as semesters abroad, professional obligations or longer trips. Paragraph 3 of the Conscription Act states: “Permission must be granted for the period in which the male person is not eligible to be called up for military service.”
According to the Ministry of Defense, the background is that the rule is intended to enable the Bundeswehr to “reliable and meaningful military records if necessary,” the spokesman said. “In an emergency, we need to know who is staying abroad for a longer period of time.” The Ministry of Defense is currently developing “specific regulations for the approval of exceptions to the approval requirement, also in order to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy,” it continues.
The law for the new military service stipulates that all 18-year-old men and women receive a questionnaire to determine their suitability and motivation for the Bundeswehr. Men are required to fill out this form. If the Bundeswehr does not succeed in recruiting enough volunteers using the questionnaire, the black-red coalition reserves the right to introduce so-called compulsory military service. Tens of thousands of students have demonstrated against the new military service in recent months.
Sources used: dsc/ses/dpa
