The obligations connected with military reserve service are not always to be performed immediately: the law provides both for exemption from mobilization reserve service and for the deferral of its completion. For a reservist and his family these norms are an important safety instrument, but their use requires a precise legal assessment: each ground must be substantiated by documents and must follow the procedure established by law.
Within this service we explain who is exempted from mobilization reserve service, who is granted a deferral and how these rights are exercised. Below is the complete classification of the grounds provided for by law.
Exemption from Mobilization Reserve Service
Under the law, the following are exempted from mobilization reserve service:
- a woman who has no military-accounting specialty;
- a person deemed unfit for military service due to his state of health;
- a person who has reached the age of 60.
Exemption means that persons in this category are not considered obliged to perform mobilization reserve service at all. Note that exemption on health grounds rests on a finding of unfitness, which must be formalized in the appropriate manner, and it is on the basis of that document that the status changes.
Grounds for Deferral: Family Circumstances
The completion of mobilization reserve service is deferred for a person whose care involves an incapable-of-work member of the family — a parent, spouse, child, stepchild or another person permanently living with him — or a minor who needs permanent care and who has no other legal representative or other person provided for by law who is obliged and able to look after him. This ground rests on family responsibility, and its use requires substantiating that the care falls precisely on this person and that no alternative exists.
Grounds for Deferral: Elections, Activity and Health
The law provides for a number of further grounds of deferral:
- a person who, on the day of call-up to the mobilization reserve, is registered as a candidate for membership of the Parliament or the presidency of Georgia, the supreme representative body of an autonomous republic or the representative body of a municipality, or as a candidate for mayor of a municipality — until the official publication of the final results of the respective elections;
- a person whose activity is connected with the harvesting of agricultural crops — where the specificity of that activity so requires and where this person is the family's only adult and able-bodied member;
- a person deemed temporarily unfit for military service due to his state of health.
The election-related ground is temporary and is calculated until the official publication of the final results; the harvest-related ground depends on the specificity of the agricultural activity; and temporary unfitness rests on a medical conclusion whose force expires with the passage of time.
Grounds for Deferral: State Service and Special Statuses
A deferral is also granted to a number of representatives of the state apparatus and the justice system:
- an employee of the systems of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Defense of Georgia and of the State Security Service, as well as a person on special registration;
- a judge, a prosecutor;
- a person in a diplomatic position;
- a person in a state-political position, a person in a political position;
- a person elected by the Parliament of Georgia;
- an employee of the emergency response forces who directly participates in emergency response measures and restoration works.
These grounds differ from one another in that some are connected with the person's permanent status while others are tied to a particular period or active activity. Accordingly, the manner of documenting each of them also differs.
Grounds for Deferral: Other Circumstances
The law provides additional grounds as well:
- a person who is abroad before the declaration of mobilization;
- a clergyman of a religious organization who performs priesthood;
- a convicted person serving a sentence in a penitentiary institution;
- a person accused of a crime to whom imprisonment has been applied as a preventive measure;
- a person convicted of a crime against the constitutional order and security foundations of Georgia, of a crime of terrorism, of a crime against military service, or of a crime against humanity;
- one of the categories determined by the law on military duty and military service — for a period of 3 years, as well as other persons determined by this article.
The ground connected with being abroad is determined by the moment of the declaration of mobilization, while in the case of a clergyman the actual exercise of priesthood is decisive. The grounds connected with the sphere of justice — conviction, accusation and having been convicted — are substantiated on the basis of the respective decisions.
The Practical Side of Using Deferral and Exemption
The use of the right to deferral or exemption begins with the state of your case: it is necessary to determine which ground corresponds to your situation, to gather the confirming documentation and to submit it in the prescribed manner. Our service includes:
- verifying the correspondence of your situation to the grounds provided for by law;
- compiling the list of documents and preparing them;
- reasoning the application for deferral or exemption;
- in case of refusal — challenging the decision in the manner prescribed by legislation.
Remember: deferral and exemption do not occur automatically — this right requires exercise, and a timely response is decisive here. Contact us so that we can assess your case and substantiate the correct ground with documents.