Iranian Government Issues Exemption from Military Service for Researchers Living Abroad

Military service in Iran is compulsory for all males aged between 18 and 49 although there are some grounds for exemption.

The deputy chairman of the Scientific Relations and Human Resources Development Office of the Center for International Science and Technology Interactions which itself is part of the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology and Knowledge-Based Economy said in an interview that permanent exemption were issued for 20 Iranian researchers residing in other countries, adding, “Therefor, the travel of these people to the country is allowed.”

“This year, we had the implementation of the ‘Connect’ project on our agenda. The purpose of this program is to communicate with Iranian researchers, experts and entrepreneurs living abroad who are interested in cooperating with Iran or returning to the country. In the first step, we tried to establish connections with Iran's top universities and scientific parks within the ‘Connect’ project,”  Ali Hosseini said.

Hosseini stated that the Connect project was warmly welcomed by companies and science and technology parks, adding that “This year, about 1,700 requests were registered in the system, showing an increase of 20% compared to the previous year.”

He said that the Iranian experts and researchers that reside in other countries used to face restrictions in traveling to the country based on the law, saying,  “According to the law, these people are allowed to travel to the country twice a year, and we were able to with the approval of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and the cooperation of the National Elite Foundation solve the problem of the travel of these people that reside in other countries.”

He added that the military’s cooperation with the vice presidency was welcome by the universities and parks warmly.

The major destinations for the Iranian graduates are mainly North America and Europe, Australia and East Asia, according to the scientific official.

He went on to say that the Iranian vice presidency gives research projects to Iranian graduates that live in other countries to do and after they finish the projects, they will be exempted from travel restriction because of the military service.

Emphasizing that doing the projects takes 14 months and then exemption cards will be issued for the applicants, Hosseini said, “This year, we have given research projects to about 380 people who have started working on their research and a number of them have already been done and are being defended. About 20 permanent exemptions have been issued so far.”

“The main issue about the project in place of military service for researchers abroad in such a way that from the time the project is defined, the travel of these people, who are mainly in knowledge-based companies, to the country will be allowed. People who participate in this plan and are concerned about returning and cooperating with Iran, this way the challenge of military service will be solved for them, otherwise these people will be allowed to travel to the country two to three times a year,” the official continued to elaborate more.

He considered the exemption card for Iranian researchers abroad as a card that was issued to them in exchange for the implementation of the project, clarifying that “This card does not mean an exemption from military service.”

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