Military service obligations and a second citizenship

Compulsory military service attaches to nationality, not to where somebody lives. That is the whole of the issue, and it is why the question belongs in any decision about acquiring a second citizenship — particularly for a family with sons approaching the relevant age.

How the obligation reaches people abroad

• Registration duties that apply on reaching an age, regardless of residence, and are breached by not registering rather than by not serving.
• Passport renewal as an enforcement point. Several countries make renewal at a consulate conditional on the military position being regularised.
• Entry to the country as the practical trigger. Someone with an unresolved obligation may be able to live abroad indefinitely and be unable to visit.
• Deferral rather than exemption. Study and residence abroad frequently defer rather than remove, and the deferral has to be applied for and renewed.

Where a second citizenship complicates it

Acquiring a second nationality does not remove the first one's obligations, and in many cases does not remove the first nationality at all. A dual national is generally treated by each country as its own citizen, with the full set of duties, and the presence of the other passport is irrelevant to that country.

Some countries operate agreements recognising service performed elsewhere, or exempting dual nationals resident abroad. These are specific bilateral arrangements, not a general principle, and they have to be checked pair by pair.

Renunciation, and what it costs

Where an obligation is genuinely unacceptable, renunciation of the citizenship carrying it is the only complete answer. It is a formal process, not a declaration, and it has conditions:

• Most countries will not permit renunciation that leaves a person stateless, so another citizenship must already be held.
• Some will not permit it while an obligation is outstanding, which is the specific point at issue.
• It is generally irreversible, and it removes the right to live in and return to that country.
• It may have tax consequences, including an expatriation charge in the country that taxes on citizenship.

The practical instruction for a family

Establish, for each nationality anyone in the family holds or might acquire, what the obligation is, at what age it attaches, what deferral exists, and what the enforcement points are. Do it while the children are young, because every option in this area narrows as the relevant birthday approaches.

And treat it as a question of fact rather than of intention. What the family plans to do is not what the rules respond to; the rules respond to nationality, age and dates.