Going abroad: Are you subject to military conscription? Latest regulations?

You are of conscription age and have been called up for military service. However, your plan is to go abroad. So, will you be called up for military service if you go abroad? Many young people have questions about this issue. To answer these questions, we provide you with some state regulations regarding going abroad and military service as follows:

What are the cases that are not called up for military service?

State regulations on military service

To know whether going abroad requires military service or not, you need to grasp the regulations. The state stipulates the following regarding military service:

Law on Military Service, Decree No. 38/2007/ND-CP issued by the Government on March 15, 2007, on temporary deferment and exemption from conscription during peacetime for male citizens of conscription age, as guided by Joint Circular No. 175/2011/TTLT-BQP-BGDĐT dated September 13, 2011, you will be temporarily deferred or exempted from performing military service in certain cases prescribed by the state.

State regulations on military service

>>>If you want to use Wi-Fi freely while abroad, please: rent travel wifi

Cases of temporary deferment of military service

1. Not healthy enough to serve in the army according to the conclusion of the Health Examination Council;

2. The sole provider who must directly care for and support others in the family who are unable to work or are not yet of working age;

3. The sole provider in a family that has suffered heavy losses in both human and property due to an accident, natural disaster, or dangerous epidemic, as certified by the Commune-level People's Committee;

4. Having a sibling who is a non-commissioned officer or enlisted soldier currently serving in the army;

5. People participating in economic zone development in the first three years;

6. People relocated for resettlement or population distribution in the first three years to remote, distant, border, or particularly difficult areas with a regional allowance coefficient of 0.5 or higher, or to islands with a regional allowance coefficient of 0.3 or higher, according to the state's socio-economic development projects approved by provincial-level People's Committees or higher;

7. Cadres, civil servants, public employees as defined in Article 4 of the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, youth volunteers, voluntary intellectuals working in state agencies, political organizations, socio-political organizations residing in the locality or from other localities assigned to work in remote, distant, border, or particularly difficult areas with a regional allowance coefficient of 0.5 or higher, or to islands with a regional allowance coefficient of 0.3 or higher;

8. Currently researching a state-level scientific project certified by the Minister, Head of a ministerial-level agency, or an equivalent official;

9. Students and pupils studying at educational institutions within the national education system as stipulated in Clause 1, Article 48 of the Law on Education 2005 include:

a) High schools, boarding schools for ethnic minorities, semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities, specialized schools, gifted schools, preparatory schools for higher education;

b) Professional secondary schools, vocational colleges, vocational secondary schools;

c) Colleges, universities;

d) Academies, research institutes tasked with training master's and doctoral degrees;

10. Students and pupils studying at schools run by foreign organizations or individuals, international organizations, or overseas Vietnamese who are permitted to invest in the territory of Vietnam, or students and pupils studying abroad with training durations of twelve months or more;

11. Citizens studying at schools specified in points b and c of clause 9 and clause 10 are only allowed to defer conscription for one full-time training course. If they continue to study in other training courses, they will not be deferred from conscription. Annually, citizens who are deferred from conscription as specified in this Article must be inspected. If there are no longer grounds for deferral, they will be called for conscription.

Cases of deferral of military service

>>>Do you need to use personal WiFi, broadcast high-speed WiFi when abroad? Check out now:  international SIM card

Will I be called for military service when going abroad? Cases eligible for exemption from conscription

1. Children of martyrs, children of Class 1 war invalids, children of Class 1 disabled soldiers;

2. A brother or younger brother of a martyr;

3. A son of a Class 2 war invalid;

4. Cadres, civil servants, public employees, youth union members, volunteers, young intellectuals volunteering as specified in the above Clause 7 and have served for twenty-four months or more;

Cases eligible for early termination of service include:

1. Deterioration of health that makes one unable to perform duties in the core militia and self-defense force as certified by a medical facility from the commune level or higher;

2. Sudden family hardships that make it impossible to fulfill militia and self-defense force duties;

According to Clause 3, Article 2 of Joint Circular (Consolidated) No. 02/2013/TTLT-BQP dated May 20, 2013, of the Ministry of National Defense, the following citizens are not eligible for deferment from military service during peacetime:

a) Studying in training types other than those specified in Clause 1 of this Article;

b) Studying but being expelled;

c) Dropping out or suspending studies for a continuous period of 6 months or more without a valid reason;

d) Having completed the study period at a school for a course;

e) Only registering and paying tuition fees but not actually studying at the school;

f) Studying the first full-time training course but dropping out to transfer to study another school's training course.

Regulations on citizens exempt from military service

According to Decree 42/2011/ND-CP,citizens are exempt from being called up for military service during wartime in one of the following cases::

• Citizens holding key positions in state agencies, Communist Party of Vietnam organizations, socio-political organizations from local to central levels, economic organizations with a large workforce or significant impact on the economic activities of a region, industry, or sector of the national economy; if these citizens are conscripted, it will directly reduce, disrupt, or halt the operations of that agency or organization, directly affecting the maintenance of social management and operations, and the operations of the national economy.
• Citizens are part of the plan to ensure national defense operations during wartime.
• Citizens working in particularly important positions, such as working in key national projects, cipher, banknote printing, meteorological and hydrological stations, lighthouses, pilots, chief researchers at ministerial, sectoral, national, and international levels, and other special professional positions.
• Citizens working in agencies and organizations operating in particularly difficult areas such as border communes, islands, remote areas, and areas with ethnic minorities identified by the Government as facing particular economic and social difficulties.
• Citizens who have been recognized by the competent authority for advanced professional and technical qualifications and are receiving advanced professional and technical salaries.
• Citizens with high skills and extensive experience to maintain the operations of large agencies and organizations during wartime. For example, having skills at the lowest level in a five-level scale or the last two levels in a six-level scale or higher.
• Citizens with high scientific research qualifications or are a source for developing national talent.
• Citizens who are the only child or the only son of a martyr.

The Decree also clearly states that when necessary, the Ministry of National Defense may mobilize some citizens with expertise belonging to the above-mentioned categories to serve in the army.

Citizens eligible for exemption from military service during wartime, if they volunteer to serve in the army and are approved by the head of the agency or organization managing and employing that person, may be called up for military service.

Learn the correct regulations on conscription

Will going abroad trigger military service summons?

According to the regulations, even if you go abroad, you still have to perform military service and cannot postpone it. Unless you go abroad for study, in which case you can postpone it. However, when you are abroad, you don't have to worry about being summoned for a medical examination for military service. As long as you stay abroad until you are 27 years old. If you have the ability to go abroad multiple times, going during conscription periods will help you avoid receiving summons. As long as you do not receive a summons for a medical examination, you will not be in trouble.

In the case where you go abroad and have received a conscription notice, you will be required to attend the examination. If you intentionally evade, you will be considered guilty of evading military service. Self-defense militia can arrest you at any time when you return to the country.

If you have been selected for military service, you can no longer leave the country to go abroad. Therefore, if you want to go abroad, you must do so before receiving the summons for examination.

When the country is at war, cases of exemption from military service will be based on the decision of the Government.

Performing military service in Vietnam is almost mandatory. If you are eligible for military service, you will serve in the army for 2 years.

You now understand whether going abroad will trigger a military service summons. You can apply this to your own situation accordingly.