Acceptance of applications for consular actions for men of mobilization age to continue on May 18, taking into account new legal requirements
After the law On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on certain issues of military service, mobilization and military registration comes into force on May 18, 2024, the process of accepting and considering applications for consular actions for men of mobilization age will continue taking into account new requirements arising from the provisions of the law.
As explained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the acceptance of new applications for consular actions from men of mobilization age has been temporarily stopped since April 23 of this year (with the exception of applications for issuing identity cards for returning to Ukraine).
It is noted that the decision to suspend the process of providing consular services to a category of Ukrainian citizens defined by law is a temporary step due to the need to resolve issues of military registration of citizens of mobilization age who are abroad, and to resolve, in cooperation with other involved government bodies, technical issues that arose during the implementation norms and provisions of the previously mentioned law.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said all applications for consular services submitted before April 23 will be considered and processed by consular offices in full.
"Only new applications from the category of citizens defined in the new law will not be accepted temporarily, since the period for consideration of such applications may exceed the time remaining before entry into force. We strive to protect citizens from situations where the ordered service cannot ultimately be provided," the MFA said.
The department also said the introduced restrictions do not apply if the actual recipient of the service is not the applicant himself, but his minor child or ward (issuing a passport for traveling abroad for a child/ward, registering the child’s acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship by birth, registering the birth of a child and so on.).
As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, the law of Ukraine On amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on certain issues of military service, mobilization and military registration, which will come into force on May 18, 2024, provides that after updating the military registration data in the commission, a male citizen of Ukraine gender between the ages of 18 and 60 with valid military registration documents will have access to consular services in accordance with the law in full.
"The mechanism for updating and verifying military records for men 18-60 years of age temporarily stationed abroad is currently being determined from the available options and agreed upon by the government agencies involved. As soon as this interdepartmental work is completed, diplomatic institutions and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will publish additional detailed clarifications," the ministry said.
At the same time, temporary restrictions do not apply to the provision of consular assistance in case of emergency situations with Ukrainian citizens abroad. If any citizen of Ukraine gets into an emergency situation abroad (road accident, detention, natural disasters, etc.), consular service employees will provide the necessary consular assistance in full within the framework of the law, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.