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Features

Children of Iranian Mothers and non-Iranian Fathers May Soon be Eligible for Citizenship

May 23, 2019
Faramarz Davar
8 min read
A large number of Afghan migrants have married Iranian women but, under current laws, their children are not considered Iranian citizens
A large number of Afghan migrants have married Iranian women but, under current laws, their children are not considered Iranian citizens
The Iranian parliament has passed a bill to grant citizenship to mixed-parentage children with Iranian mothers — but the Guardian Council must approve it before it becomes the law
The Iranian parliament has passed a bill to grant citizenship to mixed-parentage children with Iranian mothers — but the Guardian Council must approve it before it becomes the law

Iranian politicians have overwhelmingly voiced support for a government plan to overhaul the country’s nationality laws, potentially signaling the end to discrimination against children of parents from different nationalities.  

The amendment to the nationality law was passed with a resounding 188 votes for, 20 against and three abstentions, on May 12, endorsing a government bill to grant citizenship to children of women with a foreign spouse. If the law gets the approval of the Guardian Council, for the first time in the history of modern Iran, children with an Iranian mother and a foreign father could become Iranian citizens with relative ease. 

The proposed legislation would introduce greater opportunities for children of mixed-background parents to become Iranian citizens, but because it stipulates that Iran’s intelligence agency must review some applications for citizenship submitted after the child has reached adulthood, these individuals will still be limited in terms of their rights to citizenship.

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Iran is one of only seven countries in the world that do not allow mothers to confer their nationality to their children [PDF]. The other six countries are Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Brunei, Somalia, and Swaziland.

If approved by the Guardian Council, this law would open the way for the children of Iranian women who have married Afghan men in Iran and also for the children of migrant Iranian women who have married non-Iranians. Currently, only mixed-parentage children with Iranian fathers can receive Iranian identity documents while, under existing laws, an Iranian mother married to the nationals of another country is not entitled to the same right.

Some parents may have no interest in getting Iranian citizenship for the their children, but it will be a significant change for many people. Any individual who has Iranian parents or one Iranian parent has the right to Iranian citizenship. Individuals have the right to waive their right to receive Iranian citizenship, but the government has the duty to protect this right for its citizens and their children.

 

The Challenges Facing Children with Mixed Parentage

According to official statistics, around 1.5 million Afghan migrants live in Iran. A large number of Afghan men are married to Iranian women but currently Iranian laws do not recognize their children as Iranian citizens, and the government does not issue them Iranian IDs and citizenship documents. These individuals have Iranian mothers and live in Iran but do not enjoy equal rights with Iranian citizens. For instance, until recently, these children were not allowed to study in Iranian state-run schools free of cost, and schools run by the Ministry of Education made it difficult for them to even register.

If they traveled to Afghanistan to visit their fathers’ families, the children required a permit to return to Iran. They were considered foreign students by the universities and had to pay a higher tuition. They did not have the same right to employment as Iranians and if an employer was willing to give them a job they needed a permit from the government — otherwise they would be working illegally. In the latter case, the employers, who were in danger of being fined by the government for illegally hiring foreign nationals, paid these workers a very low wage.

Outside Iran, children of mixed-parentage with Iranian mothers are not considered Iranian citizens either. But since these families do not live in Iran, they have fewer problems than the children of Afghan fathers and Iranian mothers who do live in Iran. However,  these children, most of whom live in the United States and Canada, must get a visa to visit their motherland.

For instance, if a mixed-parentage child with an Iranian mother who lives in the US wants to accompany his or her mother on a visit to Iran, a visa application must be submitted to the Interests Section of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Washington, DC. Since the two countries do not have diplomatic relations, there are no Iranian consulates in other American cities and the applicants must travel to Washington, DC, from other locations in the US or must send their documents to the Pakistani Embassy, which represents Iranian interests in the US. This, of course, is costly both in terms of expenses and time.

In Canada the situation is even more difficult. Canada has completely broken its diplomatic and consular relations with the Islamic Republic and Iran does not even have an interests section in that country to issue visas. So, to visit Iran, mixed-parentage children with Iranian mothers who live in Canada must travel to the US and submit their application to the Interests Section in Washington, DC. They can also mail their applications and related documents but it still takes a long time.

It is easier for mixed-parentage children to get visas from the Islamic Republic before they reach the age of 18. After they reach the legal age and are employed in the country of their residence, the Islamic Republic can make it harder for them to get a visa. Of course, existing laws allow mixed-parentage individuals to request Iranian citizenship when they turn 18 but they are not considered Iranians by default.

So far there have been no reports that the Islamic Republic has systematically refused to issue visas to mixed-parentage children of Iranian mothers, but at the same time not everybody gets visas. One of the simplest reasons for refusal can be an “incomplete dossier.”

 

The Tragedy of Maryam Mirzakhani and her Daughter

With these difficulties in getting visas, many mothers with mixed-parentage children who live in the US or in Canada either decide to not bring their children when visiting Iran or not take the trip at all.

One of the most tragic cases is that of Maryam Mirzakhani, the genius Iranian-American mathematician and the winner of the prestigious Fields Medal award, who died in 2017 after a long battle with cancer. She and her husband Jan Vondrák, a Czech theoretical computer scientist, had a daughter together. After she died, her family said that Mirzakhani had been worried that after her death her daughter’s connection and emotional ties to her ancestral land would be severed. They said that, in her will, Mirzakhani wanted them to solve the problem of her daughter’s citizenship.

The story was so shocking and poignant that a group of female members of the Iranian parliament sought to reform Iran's citizenship laws. Two years earlier members of the parliament had introduced a similar bill to the parliament but it failed to pass. Now, two years after the death of Maryam Mirzakhani, the parliament has overwhelmingly passed the amendment introduced by President Rouhani’s government. It awaits a final decision from the Guardian Council.

Under the current laws, mixed-parentage children of Iranian mothers can apply for citizenship after they turn 18, provided they live in Iran for one year. But if the father is Iranian and the mother is not Iranian, the children can become Iranian citizens the moment that they are born. Even if a woman who is born in Iran to foreign nationals gives birth in Iran to a child from a foreign husband, the child is considered Iranian and can have an Iranian ID but, at this moment, Iranian women have no such right.

 

How is it Going to Change?

If the Guardian Council approves the amendment to the citizenship laws passed by the parliament, mixed-parentage children with Iranian mothers can become Iranian citizens the moment they are born. If the mother is in Iran, she can go to the National Organization for Civil Registration and request an Iranian ID for her child. Outside of Iran, she can go to Iranian consulates and apply for an Iranian ID and passport for the child. The mother’s Iranian ID or passport are required as well, but the application form is short and simple.

In cases where the mother does not apply for an Iranian ID for her child before she or he turns 18, then the child must personally request it. However, and importantly, the new amendment passed by the parliament rules that after the child turns 18, the application must be reviewed by the Islamic Republic’s intelligence agencies. In other words, these security agencies can veto the application.

There are now close to 50,000 mixed-parentage children of Iranian mothers who have officially requested Iranian citizenship. But the number of these children without Iranian citizenship is estimated to be much higher because millions of Iranians live in countries like the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and Germany. Official statistics published by the Iranian government say that more than 1.5 million Iranians reside full-time in the US, Canada and the UK. But the actual figure is estimated to be much higher.

Considering the very conservative bent of the Guardian Council — which must approve every bill passed by the parliament before it can become law —  the approval of this amendment is not a foregone conclusion. The families of many would-be Iranian children must wait and see what the Guardian Council decides, and whether it will give its approval to mixed-parentage children being able to visit Iran with their families with an Iranian passport and without the need for a visa and the accompanying hassles.

 

Related Coverage:

Fundamental Rights for Iranian Women, March 8, 2019

Iran’s Discriminatory Laws Against Women: Three Reactionary Parliaments, December 17, 2018

Iran’s Laws Against Women: Some Reforms but Discrimination Still Rife, December 7, 2018

Iran’s Discriminatory Laws against Women: The Early Days, December 6, 2018

How Iran's Laws Discriminate Against Women, April 3, 2016

Women and Travel Bans: Can the Laws be Reformed?, November 3, 2015

, September 23, 2015

Going out? Ask your Husband First, September 15, 2015

, June 15, 2015

Judicial Official Defends Polygamy, February 5, 2015

Iran’s Gender Double Standards, October 20, 2014

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