Ukrainian men abroad are temporarily deprived of consular services: the reaction of the public and the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On April 23, consular services temporarily stopped being provided to Ukrainian men of military age abroad. It is not fair when some are fighting and others want to stay abroad, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine explained this decision.

Consular services are, first of all, obtaining an internal or extending the validity period of a foreign passport, entering information about a minor child, issuing a birth certificate. As well as help in the event of an emergency, but it will continue to be provided under any conditions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs specified.

The news caused a wave of indignation in social networks and in the queues for passports at the representative office of Ukraine in Warsaw. Passports stopped being issued on the same day.

People say that these changes caught them by surprise. According to the new law on mobilization, Ukrainians abroad will be able to receive consular services only if they have a military ticket and update their data in the TCC.

But the law should enter into force on May 18, and the issuing of documents has already been suspended.

Videos of outraged men are circulating on the Internet in Europe, and no less passions are boiling in Ukraine - people argue and call them evasive.

What can this mean and how can men abroad update their data in the TCC? Is it necessary to go to Ukraine for this, or can it be done by phone, in an electronic office or in a consular institution? And how to pass the VLK in this case?

BBC Ukraine tried to clarify these issues with lawyers.

Is it possible to update the data at the consulate?

After the full-scale Russian invasion, according to EU statistics, more than 800,000 Ukrainian men ended up there, some of them illegally. How many of them are subject to mobilization is not known for sure, because some of them are not suitable due to their health or other reasons.

Hundreds of thousands more worked or lived abroad before the war.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet clarified how exactly the men should update their data in the TCC in order to restore consular services to them - they say that the options are "determined" and "coordinated" with other state bodies.

The Ukrainian Air Force sent requests to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to get answers to questions about military records abroad.

Men abroad, who violently express their dissatisfaction, hope that it will be possible to update their data at the consulate or other diplomatic institutions of Ukraine without traveling to their homeland. After all, they will most likely not be released back.

It is not yet known whether this is true.

Conscripts who have been abroad for more than three months must be temporarily registered at the consulate. This is contained in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution 1487 of December 30, 2022 on the procedure for keeping military records, attorney Anzhela Vasylevska explains to BBC Ukraine.

"But (getting on temporary registration - Ed .) is also a consular service. And in more detail, what the consulates should do - whether they have the authority to issue military registration documents, summonses, is not provided for in this order," says the lawyer.

With the adoption of a new law on strengthening mobilization in Ukraine, by-laws also need to be updated, and Vasylevska assumes that consulates will be given additional powers to keep military records and notify conscription.

On May 18, the conscript's electronic office should also start working. It is not necessary for men to start it, but for those who are abroad, it can be a lifesaver.

Maybe there it will be possible to update your data in the TCC, lawyers assume.

"But whether the electronic office will work and how it will happen in practice is unknown," says Olena Khomenko from the Aktum Bar Association.

It is also not known whether men who are abroad need to undergo a military medical examination. According to the law - and this was the case in peacetime as well - conscripts must pass the VLK once every 5 years.

But VLK definitely cannot be passed online, remotely. The law expressly forbids this, Khomenko explains.

What problems can arise in men

In order to avoid problems after returning to Ukraine, Vasylevska advised her foreign clients to enter temporary consular registration.

Because as long as the TCC does not know that the man is abroad, the lawyer explains, they can send him summonses to an address in Ukraine, then record non-appearance after the summons, issue fines and impose other punishments.

"When you return to Ukraine, you will receive a surprise in the form of an administrative charge in the information system of the police and a high level of physical coercion against you in connection with delivery to the TCC and SP for drawing up an administrative protocol," the lawyer explained earlier in her Telegram channel .

Those men who have been living abroad for a long time, or who left Ukraine during the war legally, could be registered in this way. If they did not do this, but they received a summons, their parents or other relatives could write a letter to the TCC stating that their son has been living abroad since a certain date, there is no point in putting him on a search warrant, Olena Khomenko explains.

But if a person left illegally, such measures "do not insure" him, says the lawyer.

In the evening of April 24, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the decision to issue domestic and international passports only in Ukraine, and it is now impossible to send them abroad.

Although parents with many children, people with disabilities, guardians and other categories of citizens who have the right to travel abroad during martial law can still receive new documents outside of Ukraine.

This means that people who left before or during martial law, whether legally or not, may be treated differently in the provision of consular services.

Boys who study abroad and have reached their 16th birthday can also have problems, Veselovska says.

"At the age of 18, they are obliged to register and receive a prescription. Currently, consulates do not have the authority to issue prescriptions. And in order to get it, boys go to Ukraine for this document at the age of 17. And until they turn 18, they go back in order to cross the border without obstacles," says the lawyer.

At the age of 18, it is also necessary to renew the internal Ukrainian passport. At this age, they are not mobilized, but they will not be released back from Ukraine.

"The situation is unclear"

Lawyers say that with the termination of consular services abroad, an unclear legal situation has developed.

"First, it is necessary to clarify, and then introduce restrictions so that people can prepare," says lawyer Olena Khomenko.

She reminds that a similar situation occurred at the beginning of the year, when Ukrainian men who had reason to leave Ukraine were restricted from leaving without warning. It was New Year's holidays, people wanted to go to their relatives, but the border guards informed that they would not be allowed to go abroad without updating their data in the TCC.

"They motivated it by the fact that they have an order that no one saw at that time, and therefore they could not report it officially. And when you don't know what the order is about, you have no reason to defend your interests," says the lawyer.

Ukrainians abroad are dissatisfied. In a video posted on social media, men and women in the Warsaw branch of the Dokument state-owned enterprise aggressively voiced their claims to employees and verbally abused them.

Hundreds of people came here from Poland or other countries to pick up their new passports, but they were told on the spot that they would not be able to issue the documents due to "technical problems".

Diana Petrenko, deputy director of the Dokument SE branch in Warsaw, told BBC Ukraine that since the evening of April 23, "biometric data verification has not been working." Therefore, neither men nor women can get their new passports that they ordered earlier.

You can submit data for the production of new documents. But only children under the age of 12 can get new papers, because they do not need to give their fingerprints.

Petrenko says that he "does not have" information that the suspension of their activities is related to the law on mobilization, military records and the statements of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba.

Petrenko says that there are really many dissatisfied people in their institution. Queues are perhaps the biggest for the entire existence of Dokument SE, the woman admits.

What do they say in Europe?

People do not believe too much in the explanations of employees of Dokument SE.

"Some told us that they were instructed not to provide documents, others said there were technical problems. If so, when will they be resolved? No dates are given. Problems cannot be solved for a month until the law comes into effect," says Maksym.

People assure that they received an SMS that their documents are ready. Although Dokument State Enterprise says that they were sent a message about "technical difficulties" on Tuesday.

Many of those in this queue say that they feel cheated, disappointed in "their country" and hope that if Ukraine does not solve the problem, then Europe will intervene.

Many people discuss the option of requesting temporary asylum abroad. But whether it can be done only on the basis that you are at risk of mobilization in Ukraine is unknown.

Lawyers say that each country has its own rules and considerations about who should be granted asylum.

So far, the EU has responded with few words to the suspension of consular services.

They did not comment on whether they support this decision of the Ukrainian authorities and whether Ukrainians with expired documents will be subject to deportation.

"The only thing we can do is to explain the situation with these persons who are on the territory of Europe," added the representative of the European Commission, Eric Mamer, in a comment to Radio Liberty.

Polish Minister of Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamys has already stated that Poland is ready to help Ukraine return men of conscription age so that they "fulfill their civic duty."

"I think that many Poles are indignant when they see young Ukrainian boys in hotels and cafes and hear how much effort we have to make to help Ukraine," he said.

"Any kind of support is possible," Kosiniak-Kamys said about how Poland would react if Kyiv asked for help in returning home those who may lose their right to stay in Poland after their passports expire.

However, observers have already indicated that they doubt very much that any EU country could start deporting men who are considered refugees from the war to Ukraine, where hostilities are taking place.

It is also possible that such people will simply move to Germany.

Poland granted the status of temporary protection to 950,000 Ukrainians, which is the second highest number after Germany.

Germany declared that Ukrainian men have the same protection status as women in Germany.

"This will not affect the protection status, which is the same for men and women, who make up the vast majority of war refugees," German Interior Ministry spokesman Maximilian Kahl said at a briefing.

At the same time, politicians refused to comment on the decision of the government of Ukraine, adding that it "is within the competence of Ukrainian authorities."

In Ukraine, this situation caused real emotional swings. Although human rights defenders point to gaps in the authorities' decision, many people urge us not to forget that some of the men who are now standing in queues in Europe and are outraged may be defectors who fled Ukraine.