Resolution on border crossing by 18-22 year olds: who can leave
27 August 17:03
ANALYSIS FROM 
On Tuesday, August 26, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution that allows male citizens aged 18 to 22 to freely cross the state border. But, again, there are conditions without which young men will not be able to leave. What is needed for this, found out
According to Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, this decision is aimed at preserving the connection of young people with their homeland and expanding their opportunities for study, internships and legal employment abroad. Moreover, this category of citizens is not subject to mobilization.
It is worth recalling that the initiative to ease travel restrictions belonged to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who, after meeting with participants of the Ukrainian Youth Forum, instructed the government, together with the military command, to work on simplifying the rules for crossing the border for this age group during martial law. Since 2022, traveling abroad has been prohibited for persons liable for military service aged 18 to 60.
As the State Border Guard Service has already commented, young men between the ages of 18 and 22 will be able to travel abroad if they have a passport for traveling abroad, as well as a military ID or an electronic military record.
However, according to State Border Guard Service spokesman Andriy Demchenko, the new rule does not apply to those who hold positions in state or local government. The current procedure remains in place for them – they can cross the border only for official purposes. However, the changes will come into force only after the official publication of the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution.
TCCs are already fining young people
The text of the resolution appeared on Wednesday. And it was there that the first unpleasant surprise awaited – the age for departure was lowered to 21 years. That is, those who are already 22 will no longer be able to leave the country. And the restrictions on rights after the age of 22 will remain, despite the fact that this category is not subject to mobilization until the age of 25.
Second. According to lawyers, many young people will have to apply to the MCC. And if it turns out that for some reason they did not register for military service, did not update their credentials, etc., they will face administrative liability – from 17 to 25 thousand hryvnias.
Students of colleges and other educational institutions that require documents from the TRC upon admission will be in a winning position. The institutions are forcing everyone to register. They will be able to leave at any time. But those who did not update their data, including those in the “Reserve”, can now easily be brought to administrative responsibility. “There are already many cases when the TCC puts young people under 25 on the wanted list, in particular because of the failure to update their data,” notes
[Kommersant] lawyer Roman Likhachev said in a commentary to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Educational institutions are sounding the alarm
So the state will definitely not be left in the lurch. But educational institutions are already sounding the alarm, because their contract students – young people aged 18-21 – may interrupt their studies and go abroad. And this is not only a minus for the student, but also a loss of income for the university.
There are fears that there will be many students, even those who have just entered or are studying on a contract basis, who will want to drop out and leave. In addition, some foreign educational institutions are still recruiting students. We will lose not only students but also funding. And since the cost of education in Ukraine has risen by almost 30% this year, in some countries education is even cheaper than in Ukraine,” says Serhiy Veremeenko, Dean of the Faculty of Economics.
“The universities say they will try to convince students who decide to leave to switch to part-time studies.
I think that the outflow of young people abroad will be significant at first. This is because very often good initiatives in our country do not last long. That is, at any time the Cabinet of Ministers can replay everything and ban travel again. But within six months, everything will calm down. The main thing now is that young people under 22 who crossed the border illegally, without a stamp in their passports, should be allowed to return to Ukraine, either to visit or to stay permanently. But I did not see a single word about this in the document, so a separate document is needed,” said lawyer Valentyn Serkov.
As a reminder, the Verkhovna Rada registered draft law No. 13685, which proposed to allow men under 24 to leave the country. And recently another one appeared, according to which all men of military age – from 18 to 60 years old – can count on leaving during martial law.
Author – Alla Dunina
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