Facilitation of nationality for Children of Iranian Women Married to Foreign Men

In Iranian laws, children who come from the marriage of Iranian women to foreign men, do not get Iranian nationality from birth; because nationality within Iranian laws is acquired through the father, and Iranian women can only in limited cases pass Iranian nationality to their children. Although paragraph 4 of article 976 of the Civil Code regarding the acquiring of Iranian nationality is determination of principle, but it seems that the chance to use this law in view of citizens being not enough informed, and also the failure of individuals to prepare the conditions set by the said law in required due time, needs amending.

Member of the Parliament’s Councils and Internal Affairs Commission speaking to ISNA news agency, Parvaneh Mafi pointed to the draft amendment to the law on the determination of children born to Iranian women and foreign husbands and said: “Before it had been said by the law that to acquire nationality for children of Iranian women and foreign husbands, action should be taken upon reaching the age of 18 and within 12 months.But not enough information dissemination had been done in this regard and many used to lose this opportunity.

Therefore, in the legislation of the Councils’ Commission it was determined that those that are eligible of this order who have reached the age of 18, to be able to take action to get Iranian nationality by the year 2025. On this basis, individuals born to Iranian women married to foreigners and born in Iran could by the age of 19 apply for Iranian nationality, but upon the views of the members of Parliament, this number increased to 25 so that there won’t be any problems. Also no explanation has been given in article 976 of the Civil Code with regards to the situation of these children prior to reaching the age of 18. Furthermore, the Determination of nationality of Children Born to Iranian Women Married to Foreign Husbands Act of 2016 of the Civil Code also does not provide any answers to these ambiguities. Therefore the setting of a solution to grant some urgent credits such as right to free education, and having an Iranian ID card before reaching the age of 18 can notably help to solve this problem.”

In this regard, Parvaneh Mafi, the head of the Parliament’s Family Fraction said: “According to another ratification of the Councils’ Commission, children born to Iranian women married to foreign men who are born in Iran can benefit from all rights such as education, health and etc. till the age of 18, and their residency card during this period will be deemed as their ID card. With this bill many problems related to these individuals due to citizenship problems and failure to issue ID cards, will almost be resolved, problems such as health and hygiene for example.”

Considering that Iran is on top of the list of refugees influx country in the world, the marriage of foreign men to Iranian women is very common. According to the Welfare Ministry’s figures, 60 percent of children eligible to this law have Afghan fathers, 12 percent Iraqi, and 28 percent the rest of the world fathers.

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