The scenes of forced recruitment on the streets of Europe were something that, after decades of peace in the Old Continent at the end of the Second World War, could be considered inconceivable in many of its countries. Until the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke out and now it is more or less common in kyiv or Moscow. But for this possibility to exist there must be a census of the. And this census must collect the availability of these men in terms of whether they are or will be in the country in a certain time period. A step that has already been taken in one of the largest European countries.
This is the sort of ‘small print’ that accompanies the . And, no, it was not a secret kept under lock and key, but one of the issues that was already incorporated in the approved text and that came into force at the beginning of 2026. Under this legal modification, all men who are of military age, that is, between 17 and 45 years old, will not be able to leave the country without having previously requested a permit.
This information began to be shared like wildfire last weekend after reports from several German media such as the weekly The mirror or the Frankfurter Rundschau. This is the legal modification promoted by the Government of Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz and that seeks to increase the German Army to reach a total of 260,000 active soldiers and 200,000 reservists by the time horizon of 2035. Currently, the German Armed Forces have 184,000 troops.
How does the permit work? Can it be denied? Will there be fines?
According to the articles of the law, it will be mandatory to have requested said permission to go abroad if you are a man in said age range. It doesn’t matter what the reason is for being outside German territory, whether it’s an Erasmus study grant, or one of those trips of several months that usually take place before starting the university period. There is also no exception if it is an exit to join a job.
Currently, in Germany all men and women aged 17 and over are waiting to receive forms in which they must answer a series of questions that will determine whether they are suitable or motivated to join military service. It will only be mandatory for them to respond and those men born after January 1, 2008 will even have to undergo a medical examination, but can the Armed Forces deny authorization to leave Germany?
Specifically, and according to the information of Frankfurter Rundschauit is established that “the authorization must be granted for the period in which the person is not called to military service.” What does this mean? That the submission of the permit application is mandatory, but denial would not be foreseen. According to The mirrorthe key will be that as long as military service is considered voluntary—as long as there is no situation of war or tension—the request for permission will always be considered as an authorization granted.
However, another unknown remains. What will happen to those men between 17 and 45 years old who do not request permission to leave the country? Again according to the aforementioned German weekly, there will be no financial punishment. That is, there will be no financial penalty for those who skip this obligation. However, the German Ministry of Defense has previously stated that they continue to work on specific regulations to allow exceptions to the authorization obligation.
