Germany works to clarify new rules on fighting-age men leaving country

Issued on: 07/04/2026 - 12:10

Germany's armed forces are working on clarifying a provision in a recently updated military service law ​that requires ‌fighting-age men to gain permission to leave the country ⁠for more than three months, the defence ministry said. The law went into effect in January, but ‌the requirement - which theoretically affects millions of men between the ages ⁠of 17 and 45 in the European Union's most populous country - had gone mostly unnoticed until a local newspaper report highlighted it on ​Friday.