Changes to the rules for traveling outside the place of residence during martial law
On 28 June 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine approved the Procedure for granting permit to citizens of Ukraine who are included in military record to travel outside their place of residence (place of stay) starting from the moment of mobilization and during martial law (the "Procedure"). Сurrently, traveling outside of the place of residence is allowed, subject to the obtainment of a relevant permit.
Procedure to obtain permit and its validity period
A permit to leave the place of residence is issued by the military office that keeps military records of a person based on a relevant motion of the latter. The motion shall indicate the reasons for leaving and contain supporting documents. Based on the result of consideration of such a motion, the military office issues a permit to leave.
The validity period of the permit is from 30 days and up to 1 year, except for leaving due to other justifiable reasons, when the permit is granted for a period of up to 30 days.
Grounds for granting the permit
The procedure defines specific reasons for the issuance of the permit for conscripts and reservists. In particular, the permit may be granted for the latter individuals if:
- they are not subject to conscription for military service and have relevant documents evidencing postponement for a period of up to 1 year
- they are reserved in accordance with the procedure established by the law
- in some cases, they need to leave due to other justifiable reasons provided that such individuals submitted relevant supporting documents
At the same time, the Procedure indicates that the following categories of individuals do not need a permit to leave:
- excluded from military record
- reserved and sent on a business trip. Also, General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine points out on the necessity to confirm the reservation by certification of an extract from Ministry of Economy of Ukraine`s order. The extract will be certified by the head of military office
- conscripts and reservists who were removed from the military record and move to a new place of residence, where within 7 days they must register for military service
Deadlines for consideration of a motion: not yet established.
We also note that the General Staff of the Armed Forces confirmed that the abovementioned Procedure would be further revised in order to cover other aspects of possible reasons to leave the place of residence (e.g., for individuals who frequently cross regional borders for official or personal purposes).
For more information, please contact Asters' Counsels Inesa Letych and Anton Sintsov, Head of ADR practice Yuna Potomkina.
Asters monitors the situation and will inform on further developments.
