Passports for Ukrainians liable for military service have been suspended abroad: Chaly points out the main problem

The temporary suspension of the issuance of passports to Ukrainian men of military age abroad is currently unlawful. The law on mobilization in Ukraine, which stipulates that men need to update their military records in order to obtain documents, has not yet entered into force. It will come into force on May 18.

Former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Valeriy Chaly drew attention to this in a comment to OBOZ.UA. At the same time, he emphasized that this pause is temporary, and it is necessary to resolve technical issues related to the registration of Ukrainians of mobilization age abroad.

However, even so, the decision cannot be called legal, and Ukrainians should have been explained in detail in advance.

"If we had waited until May 18, the new regulations would have come into effect, and that would have been it. No one would have even paid attention to it. This is absolutely fair, because according to the law, the information of Ukrainian citizens abroad, in this case men aged 18-60, is updated, and only on this basis are further consular actions taken, which is absolutely normal," the diplomat said.

He reminded that the situation in Warsaw, where Ukrainians began to block the work of the passport office, did not take place at the diplomatic mission, but at the state-owned enterprise Document, which is not managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This state-owned enterprise is part of the State Migration Service of Ukraine.

"Before the law came into force, they temporarily suspended this registration. What is the problem here? Firstly, there are no queues at embassies, no queues at foreign diplomatic missions, no queues at consulates general, because there is an electronic queue procedure through the Diia app, through authorization and identification. The queue in Warsaw is run by the State Enterprise Document, not the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at all. These are technical problems," Chaly said.

The diplomat believes that it was necessary to explain to people that the institutions needed a technical pause to resolve the issue of military registration of Ukrainians of mobilization age abroad.

"If you do it right, if you explain it to people: In order to prepare the implementation of the law in technical terms, a technical pause is needed. However, it would still be legal to start these actions from the moment the law comes into force. How could this be resolved immediately? To include a provision in the law stating that this rule and others are effective from the moment the law is published, and not a month later, after a month of waiting. That is, many things could have been done at the legislative level," he said.

In this case, it is not entirely appropriate to refer only to the Constitution of Ukraine, Chaly believes. Because on the one hand, it refers to the rights of people, and on the other hand, it refers to the responsibilities. Under martial law, these rights are partially curtailed.

He also clarified that the obligation to update their data existed even before the new law on mobilization was passed. Currently, there is a consular charter in place that stipulates that men of conscription age must register with the consulate.

"Consuls should do everything to ensure that in case of conscription or mobilization men are involved in fulfilling their duty. This is true, but there are no mechanisms," said Chaly.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, Ukrainian men of conscription age (18 to 60 years old) will no longer be able to obtain passports outside the country. This applies to both internal passports of Ukrainian citizens and foreign passports. In the case of passports for traveling abroad, this applies to documents issued through the State Enterprise "Document"; the innovation does not apply to consulates, the Foreign Ministry noted.

At the same time, the provision of consular services to men aged 18 to 60 has been suspended. This category of men can now only obtain a document for returning to Ukraine.

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