Second Passport and Conscription: What It Can—and Can’t—Do During Draft Season

Between 2024 and 2026, Europe and beyond are shifting their approach to military service. Latvia reinstated compulsory service in 2024, Croatia announced a transition starting in 2026, and on December 5, 2025 Germany’s parliament approved a hybrid model combining voluntary and mandatory service—initial draft notifications began in January.

Against this backdrop, families considering relocation and investment citizenship naturally ask one question: will a second passport help them “get out” of conscription? The answer usually has little to do with having the document itself. What matters is how conscription is triggered in the country of origin, what the destination country requires, and—crucially—whether an alternative status was secured before the relevant age thresholds are reached.

Expert note (rarely discussed): in several countries, “conscription risk” is not only about legal citizenship on paper, but also about administrative visibility. If a state can re-identify a person through population registers, birth registration updates, passport issuance data, or consular records, it may still initiate draft procedures even when the person is abroad. In practice, this means that families who rely solely on a new passport—without properly managing status reporting, military registration, and documentation timelines—can find themselves facing the same obligations as before.

A second passport does not automatically cancel conscription

In many countries, compulsory service is tied less to where you live and more to your citizenship. That means a passport from a country where conscription is not applied does not, by itself, remove obligations connected to citizenship in a country where conscription exists.

This is especially clear in Germany. The law Wehrdienstmodernisierungsgesetz, approved on December 5, 2025, tightened the framework: men aged 17 to 45 must obtain permission from the relevant career office, the Bundeswehr Career Center, before leaving Germany for more than three months.

As summarized in IMI’s April 2026 update, under the Conscription Act (section 1) the obligation applies to men aged 18 and older who are considered German citizens under the Basic Law. So a German–American, German–Italian, or German–Turkish man living in Munich is in the same position as someone holding only a German passport.

South Korea is even stricter. Under national citizenship rules, men with dual citizenship must renounce their Korean citizenship by March 31 of the year they turn 18. If the deadline is missed, renunciation is typically possible only after completing service or once the “exit from military duty” age is reached in the late 30s.

There are also documented cases where Korean–Americans were called up after birth registration in Korea or after trips to the country.

Russia also drafts citizens with dual citizenship. Israel requires service in the IDF (including for citizens who obtained status under the Law of Return). Greece extends the obligation to all male citizens aged 19 to 45, including those who became citizens by descent.

Bottom line: the absence of conscription in your new country of residence is not the same as a release from obligations in your country of origin.

What a second passport can actually change

A second passport from a jurisdiction where conscription does not apply usually does not create an automatic exemption. Instead, it can provide several practical legal tools. Think of it not as an “off switch,” but as a broader set of lawful options.

1) Lowering real-world risk for those who can credibly demonstrate a life built outside the country of origin.

For instance, Greece offers a pathway via its consular system. Men who have lived abroad continuously for at least 11 years, or who have worked abroad continuously for at least 7 years, may apply for a Certificate of Permanent Resident Abroad. This document can allow conscription to be deferred up to age 45.

In most cases, the certificate is issued once and does not require annual renewal, though document submission rules may change by 2028.

2) A timing-based way to avoid new travel restrictions (if done early enough).

In Germany, a similar logic can apply in the opposite direction: men who have been living outside Germany and can confirm that their life interests are firmly anchored abroad may qualify for an exception under §1(2) of the Conscription Act. If the exception applies, they may not fall under the new “permission to leave” requirements.

However, the key is timing: the exception works when the move or status change happened before the relevant obligation triggered. If you receive draft-related notices and only then try to restructure your status, the mechanism typically won’t apply retroactively.

3) Creating an “alternative relocation route” before draft age.

It’s not only the passport card itself. What it enables is the ability to legally establish ties with a jurisdiction—such as documents proving permanent residence, grounds for lawful stay, and evidence of stable circumstances—without triggering the draft mechanism in the origin country.

4) Access to the option of renouncing citizenship.

Some countries allow men of draft age to renounce citizenship, but often the state requires proof that you hold citizenship elsewhere first. Without a second passport, this pathway is frequently unavailable.

How key conscription countries treat dual citizens

Rules vary widely—so this is exactly the kind of detail you should understand before deciding that a “second passport” is the fix.

Germany

All German male citizens fall under the updated system. The “permission to leave” rule applies regardless of whether you hold dual citizenship, though long-term emigrants may still be considered under older “dormant status” concepts.

Greece

The obligation covers male citizens aged 19–45. Long-term residents abroad may receive a deferral without a time limit up to 45, and those who served in allied armed forces (including the United States) are sometimes granted partial or full credit under Article 15 of Law 3421/2005.

Turkey

Mandatory service applies to male citizens aged 20–41. Those living abroad may satisfy the obligation through dövizle askerlik—a payment in foreign currency via Turkish consular channels.

The amount is reviewed every six months. In the first half of 2026 it was TRY 333,089.04, typically paid in euros using the central bank exchange rate. To qualify, applicants must show three consecutive years of lawful residence abroad.

Those who received Turkish citizenship after age 22 are usually exempt. If citizenship was granted before age 22, standard rules apply.

South Korea

Men with dual citizenship must renounce Korean citizenship by March 31 of the year they turn 18. After that deadline, renunciation is generally possible only after completing service or once the “exit from military duty” age is reached in the late 30s.

Israel

Israeli citizens—including new repatriates under the Law of Return—are subject to service in the IDF. Some categories of olim receive deferrals depending on the age at which aliyah occurred, but holding a foreign passport does not remove the underlying obligation.

Russia

Conscription applies to men aged 18–30. The upper limit was raised from 27, effective January 1, 2024. Russian citizens with a second passport remain exposed to conscription risk, and during the military situation around Ukraine, practical risks for draft-age men have increased.

Practical takeaway for investors: planning around any of these countries requires a precise “rule map.” Without it, a second passport may not be the tool you think it is.

Where the conscription question barely matters

There are jurisdictions where military service obligations simply do not apply to citizens—making the topic much easier to manage.

For example, five Caribbean countries offering investment citizenship (Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada) do not have a conscription system. In particular, Saint Kitts and Nevis runs the world’s oldest CBI program: citizenship is granted for a contribution of $250,000 to the Sustainable Island State Contribution Fund or $325,000 through real estate investment. In 2026, reforms are expected to introduce a residency-related requirement.

CBI programs also operate in Vanuatu, Nauru, and São Tomé and Príncipe—and conscription is absent there as well. São Tomé launched its program in September 2025 with a donation threshold of $90,000. Nauru processes applications in 3–4 months. The base contribution is currently $115,000, but a limited-time promotion until June 30, 2026 reduced it to $90,000.

In Africa, conscription is not present in Mauritius (though there is discussion around RBI/CBI pathways). There is also no military draft in Ireland—despite being in the EU and having particular legal features due to the Common Travel Area framework with the UK. In IMI reviews, best citizenship combo analysis often highlights Ireland among the “cleanest” standalone passport options.

Latin America looks different. Argentina suspended active conscription in 1995, and in practice military duty was not implemented. Uruguay does not introduce compulsory service. Costa Rica abolished the army as early as 1948. Panama operates without conscription.

Paraguay deserves special mention: its Investor Pass, launched during an official mission in Brazil, offers permanent residency from $150,000 and a path to citizenship after three years in a country with selective—and largely weakly enforced—conscription rules.

For families planning to relocate sons before draft age, the most predictable “isolation” is often achieved through the Caribbean (speed of status) combined with Southern Cone jurisdictions—where residency-to-citizenship routes exist and military duty is generally not a meaningful factor.

Timing is the deciding factor

One of the most important planning variables is when you secure an alternative status. Many conscription systems use age 18 as a trigger, but the exact deadlines differ.

In Germany, applications are processed for men born in 2008 and later. In South Korea, the window for renunciation closes on March 31 of the year the man turns 18. In Greece, the obligation begins at 19; in Turkey, at 20.

If a son is 14, a five-year residency-to-citizenship route in a conscription-free jurisdiction usually has time to “solve the problem” before military duty starts. If he is 17, the only realistic fast option may be a CBI program with a quick review timeline (from 6 weeks to 6 months). Still, simply obtaining a CBI passport does not automatically eliminate conscription risk in the origin country if the family is not prepared to use renunciation as part of the strategy.

So, in “Plan B” thinking, time is a constraint you cannot ignore: your options must exist before they become necessary.

Applying for a second passport in the same year your son turns 18 is usually too late from a conscription perspective—unless renunciation is included in the plan.

Renunciation (giving up citizenship): the real trade-offs

If a family is determined to fully exit the country of origin, renunciation is often viewed as the cleanest mechanism. But it can also carry the most serious consequences.

Renouncing EU citizenship to escape conscription can mean losing broader EU-related rights and protections. Renouncing U.S. citizenship may trigger an exit tax for people who fall under the expatriation rules. Renouncing Korean citizenship after the March 31 deadline can close long-term visa options for most categories—sometimes up to age 40—even for ethnic Koreans who want to return to work or for family reasons.

A narrower alternative is to keep long-term foreign residency and avoid renouncing the origin-country citizenship until the end of the military-duty period. For Greeks, that can make the difference between trips to Athens via the certificate-based route (up to age 45) and a full loss of Greek citizenship.

In practice, many investors who take conscription seriously do not rush renunciation immediately. They build a second citizenship, document permanent residence abroad, and effectively “let the military clock run out.”

What investors should take away

A second passport from a conscription-free country does not automatically exempt you from military obligations attached to other citizenships. This is the most common mistake people make when discussing a “Plan B” for families.

What a second passport truly does is expand your lawful options. With passports such as Saint Kitts and Nevis, Vanuatu, Paraguay, or Ireland, a citizen of Germany, Greece, or South Korea can often build a more credible relocation plan, document permanent residence abroad, and use country-of-origin mechanisms like “dormant status” or deferrals—where those mechanisms exist.

Without a second citizenship, relocation tends to be harder procedurally, and the renunciation option may be closed.

People who successfully achieve the desired outcome typically share three habits: they analyze the exact rules for each citizenship within the family in advance; their planning is anchored to their sons’ conscription age—not to the latest news cycle; and the second passport is treated as an “entry ticket” into a longer strategy rather than a substitute for it.

Even if European conscription mechanisms evolve, they are unlikely to disappear soon. Families who start planning now generally have more options than those who delay decisions.

If you’re considering citizenship by investment as part of your relocation plan, remember: military service depends on the specific conscription rules of each country and your status at the relevant age trigger, not just on having a “second passport.” At https://digital-nomad.gr/en/goldenvisa we help you assess timelines and legal nuances so your second citizenship supports your goals without unpleasant surprises.

Our Telegram channel about various types of Greek residence permits, digital nomad programs, and the Greek Golden Visa: @digitalnomadgr