The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has ordered foreign diplomatic missions to resume accepting applications for consular services from men of military age on 18 May.
This is stated on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The ministry noted that after several weeks of technical pause, the ministry's specialists "promptly updated regulatory documents and made changes to the algorithms of information and communication systems". This made it possible to bring consular activities in line with the law on mobilisation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also provided detailed explanations of the new procedure for obtaining consular services under the current legislation.
How consular services will now be provided to men of conscription age. Starting from 18 May, men aged 18-60 who are/reside abroad can apply for consular services.
According to the new legislation, along with the documents required to obtain the chosen consular service, such applicants must also submit their military registration document in paper (MRD) or electronic form (e-MRD).
It should be noted that a paper document can be submitted only before the launch of the electronic office of the conscript, where everyone will be able to create an electronic document on their own.
What is a paper military registration document? A paper military registration document is a certificate of registration with a conscription office (issued to conscripts) or a military ID card or a temporary certificate of a person liable for military service (issued to persons liable for military service). Conscripts need to have a certificate of registration with a conscription office, and persons liable for military service and servicemen need to have a military ID card or a temporary ID card.
Paper military registration documents will be valid only until the launch of the electronic conscript office. After its launch, electronic military registration documents will be valid, which each applicant will be able to create online in the electronic cabinet.
What is an electronic military registration document (e-MRD)? This is an electronic document that is displayed in an application on a user's smartphone and contains verified data from the Unified State Register of Conscripts, Persons Liable for Military Service and Reservists.
Starting from 18 June, it will be possible to generate it independently after updating your own data in the recruit's electronic cabinet.
In order to receive a consular service, an electronic military registration document must be reliable and up-to-date, i.e. generated no earlier than 3 days before applying to a consular office. If the document is older than 3 days, it must be generated anew in the conscript's electronic cabinet before applying.
By scanning the code from the applicant's smartphone, the consul will be able to receive real-time confirmation of the applicant's military registration data and the possibility of receiving consular services.
What to do if the conscript's electronic cabinet has not yet been launched, but there is no paper document. A citizen of Ukraine can use a temporary alternative option: to register for temporary consular registration or update his/her consular registration data, and then apply for a consular service without having an electronic or paper military registration document.
In this case, there is no need to make a separate entry in the electronic queue for submitting documents for temporary consular registration or updating consular registration data (such documents are submitted as part of the entry in the electronic queue for the relevant consular service together with the package of documents required to obtain it).
The list of documents required for temporary consular registration or updating the data for staying on it is contained in the relevant section on the website of the foreign diplomatic mission that provides this service for residents of its consular district.
If a citizen has a residence permit in a foreign country, he or she must also attach a copy of such a permit to the documents for registration.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs clarified that, in general, this procedure is temporary and will be valid only until the moment when the recruit's electronic cabinet allows him or her to create an electronic military registration document independently. From that moment on, registration or updating of consular registration data will no longer replace the requirement to provide an electronic military registration document.
When it is possible not to submit a paper or electronic military registration document to receive consular services. A paper or electronic military registration document may not be submitted for consular services in three cases:
- when it comes to issuing an identity document for returning to Ukraine (the so-called white passport);
- when a consular act is performed in the interests of a child whose second parent is a foreigner or stateless person;
- if an arrested or imprisoned applicant applies for consular services.
What to do if you do not have not only a paper military registration document but also a passport. A passport is required for temporary consular registration. In this case, the citizen must wait until 18 June, when, according to the Ministry of Defence, it will be possible to create an electronic military registration document in the recruit's electronic office. After creating such a document, a citizen will be able to apply to a consular office for a foreign passport.
For citizens who do not have a foreign passport, the possibility of obtaining an identity card for returning to Ukraine (the so-called white passport) remains available.
What is the electronic cabinet of conscripts, persons liable for military service and reservists and when will it be launched? The electronic cabinet of conscripts, persons liable for military service and reservists is one of the methods of updating military registration data. According to the Ministry of Defence, the e-cabinet will be implemented in the format of a mobile application called "Reserve+", which can only be downloaded from the official App Store and Google Play.
The application for persons liable for military service will be launched on 18 May to give everyone the opportunity to fulfil their duty and update their contact details. Detailed instructions on how to use the mobile application are already published on the Ministry of Defence's resources: Facebook and Telegram.
The mobile application will allow you to specify your mobile phone number, place of actual residence and email address, as required by law.
Starting from 18 June, the app will allow users to generate an extract from the Oberih register with personal and service data stored in the register (electronic military registration document, e-MRD) after updating their data.