German gov’t to simplify travel permission process in military service law

The German Defence Ministry has said it will simplify the process for men of military service age to obtain permission to travel outside Germany for extended periods.

German military service travel permission process will be simplified

Uproar around a clause in Germany’s Military Service Modernisation Act has prompted the Defence Ministry to simplify the process for men aged 17 to 45 to obtain permission to travel outside Germany for extended periods.

The Act came into force on January 1, 2026, and requires all male German citizens born on or after January 1, 2008, to complete a questionnaire regarding their willingness to serve in the army. Military service remains voluntary.

Over the Easter weekend, Frankfurter Rundschau drew attention to a clause in the Act which has gone widely unnoticed since January. Paragraph two states that “Male persons must obtain permission from the relevant Bundeswehr Career Centre after reaching the age of 17 if they wish to leave the Federal Republic of Germany for a period of more than three months.”

“The same applies if they wish to remain outside the Federal Republic of Germany beyond an authorised period or extend a stay outside the Federal Republic of Germany that does not require authorisation for more than three months.”

Criticism came from across the political spectrum. Sara Nanni (Greens) called for “swift clarification", Nicole Gohlke (the Left Party) said the lack of clarification proved that “authoritarianism and militarisation go hand in hand”, and the AfD called on the CDU/CSU-SPD coalition to "work out a pragmatic solution without a huge administrative burden and unnecessary impositions on young men”. 

A defence ministry spokesperson confirmed on Saturday that travel permission would be granted automatically so long as military service remains voluntary and that in an emergency the government would “need to know who is potentially staying abroad for a longer period".

Now, according to a report by Deutschlandfunk, the Defence Ministry has said it will simplify the process of obtaining travel permission to “avoid unnecessary bureaucracy”, but it remains unclear exactly how the process will be simplified.

Ministry pushed to fulfil legal obligations

Over the weekend, the Defence Ministry attempted to quell the uproar by pointing out that similar clauses were in place during the Cold War but were rarely implemented, and that citizens who did not report extended excursions were not penalised.

One central difference is that men of military service age would now be required to obtain permission for extended excursions during peacetime, rather than only during so-called “states of tension and defence”.

“A requirement for authorisation for longer stays abroad, even though there is currently no compulsory military service, constitutes a serious encroachment on the fundamental rights of young people,” the Deutschlandfunk report explained.

According to ARD legal expert Frank Bräutigam, the ministry’s latest announcement should not be understood as a concession to the public uproar, but rather a decision to fulfil its existing legal obligations.