Country of origin information report Iran January 2010

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Freedom of movement
27.01 The US State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2008, Iran, released on 25 February 2009, (USSD Report 2008) stated:
“The constitution provides for freedom of movement within the country, foreign travel, emigration, and repatriation; however, the government placed some restrictions on these rights. … The government required exit permits for foreign travel for all citizens. Some citizens, particularly those whose skills were in short supply and who were educated at government expense, had to post bond to obtain an exit permit. The government restricted the foreign travel of some religious leaders and individual members of religious minorities and scientists in sensitive fields, and it targeted journalists, academics, and activists for travel bans and passport confiscation.… A woman must obtain the permission of her husband, father, or other male relative to obtain a passport. A married woman must receive written permission from their husbands before leaving the country.” [4a] (Section 2d)
27.02 A Danish report of a fact-finding mission to Iran in September 2000 observed that:
“The delegation met Mohammad Ali Mirkhani, Head of the Passport and Visa Department of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The conditions for issuing Iranian passports were also discussed with the Iranian police force’s passport division (Law Enforcement Forces – LEF) at its head office in Tehran. According to Mohammad Ali Mirkhani, the Iranian police force (LEF) is the authority responsible for issuing passports. According to the LEF, the department has 9 passport issuing offices in Tehran and a further 49 offices in other cities in Iran. According to Mr. Mirkhani, any Iranian citizen above the age of 18 is entitled to an Iranian passport, but possession of such a passport does not mean that the holder is permitted to leave Iran. If it is established at the time a passport is issued that the passport applicant has matters to settle with the Iranian authorities, the person concerned will be informed accordingly. At the same time, the applicant will be requested to contact the relevant authority in order to solve the problem. Only once this has been done can the applicant be issued with a passport.
“An application form has to be completed when applying for a passport. The details provided on the form must be identical to those which appear on the applicant’s Iranian identity card, which must be presented in conjunction with the application. In addition, Iranian men must present a military logbook certifying that they have completed military service. Any Iranian citizen applying for a passport must come in person to the LEF, both to submit the application form and to collect the passport when it is ready. A passport can be issued within 48 hours of the application form being submitted. Iranian passports are valid for five years. They can be extended for a further five years. There are no periods of validity other than five years.” [86c] (p6)
27.03 A report from the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board (CIRB) dated 1997 stated that women must have written, notarised permission from their father, husband or legal guardian, except in certain circumstances e.g. widows. No one under 18 is issued a passport, except under special circumstances where the minor is travelling without a parent or guardian. [2c] (p20)
27.04 UNHCR stated in their ‘Comments on the Iran Country Report of April 2005’ of August 2005 that:
“There are no specific provisions relating to the exit of a mother with minor children from the country without the consent of the father or paternal grandfather. According to the Law on Passports, authorization in writing of the guardian is required for issuance of a passport for a minor or inclusion of a minor’s name in a relative’s passport. According to an ACCORD report, ‘if a woman has managed to obtain travel documents for her minor children, she has probably resorted to an illegal act based on which she can be sentenced upon return. For example she may have forged her husband’s authorization and submitted it to the Passport Bureau and could therefore be sentenced to imprisonment from two months to up to two years’ (ACCORD, June 2001, p104).” [3h] (p5)
27.05 According to the UNHCR European Country of Origin Information Seminar, Final Report, Berlin June 2001:
“Exit formalities have considerably relaxed since the initial years after the revolution. While previously it was very difficult to obtain a passport, in recent years it has become much easier. However, departure procedures are still such that it would be highly improbable that anyone with a forged passport in which name and number do not tally would be able to leave the country. Security officials at the airport possess lists of suspected or wanted persons and it is not unusual that passengers wishing to leave are prevented from leaving and told to refer to the security department. In general, the security checks at Tehran airport are still very strict and it is doubtful that anyone with a security record and convictions in Iran for political offences would be able to leave the country legally by air. Yet, although the degree is hard to assess, corruption certainly exists and in individual cases people may be able to bribe their way out of the airport. … However, leaving the country across the border to Pakistan, but also to Turkey and Azerbaijan, is fairly easy and happens all the time.” [3c] (p107)
27.06 A CIRB information request dated 3 April 2006 noted that counterfeit Iranian passports can be purchased easily on the black market with prices fluctuating according to quality, but authorities are generally adept at identifying these documents via a ‘double check’ mechanism in the law enforcement database which tracks passport issuance. [2x]
27.07 According to the CIRB and UNHCR, in May 1997 and June 2001 respectively, people seeking to leave Iran illegally do so most commonly overland through Turkey, Pakistan or Azerbaijan. [2c] (p21) [3c] The penalties for violating or attempting to violate exit regulations, such as leaving on an illegal or falsified document, range from one month to three years’ imprisonment and/or a fine. [2c] (p24) The actual penalty is dependent on the individual circumstances. (FCO, 20 August 2001) [26e]
27.08 According to the USSD report for 2007: “Citizens returning from abroad occasionally were subjected to searches and extensive questioning by government authorities for evidence of anti-government activities abroad. Recorded and printed material, personal correspondence, and photographs were subject to confiscation.” [4t] (Section 2d)
27.09 According to the European COI Seminar Berlin Report 2001, on the basis of the information Amnesty International received, usually a person who returns will be asked why s/he was abroad. If the answer is along the lines of ‘I just tried to find a job’, they will most likely be allowed to go home to their families. Generally speaking, it does depend on what kind of documentation exists on the returnee and what the actual practice of the country is, in which the concerned individual applied for asylum. [3c]
27.10 According to the European COI Seminar Berlin Report 2001, upon return, in recent years the practice has become more liberal with regard to possession and confiscation of items purchased abroad, such as CDs from Dubai and other western products. It mostly depends on what the authorities are looking for. If they assume that a person has returned from a country like the USA, this person certainly will be questioned and undergo stringent checks, but will normally not be detained for a longer period of time. [3c]
27.11 It was reported by the BBC Monitoring Service on 2 September 2002 that in September 2002 the deputy foreign minister announced that Iranians who have obtained the citizenship of foreign countries with Iran’s prior agreement can, once again, become Iranian citizens and further that the question of illegal exit had been resolved. [21v]
27.12 According to the FCO, in the case of returned asylum seekers it has been reported by observers that they had seen no evidence that failed claimants, persons who had illegally exited Iran, or deportees faced any significant problem upon return to Iran (although cases that gain a high profile may face difficulties). [26f] According to the CIRB in a July 1999 report:
“Several times in the recent past, senior government officials have declared that all Iranians living abroad are welcome to return home without fear of reprisal. ... and the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department has confirmed that applying for asylum abroad is not an offence in Iran.” [2t]
27.13 In contrast to this opinion, it was also stated in the same source that:
“The only exception to this, he [a representative of the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies (CAIS) in London, United Kingdom, who is an editor with al-Moujez an Iran, a political scientist by training, and a member of the Association of Iranian Writers in Exile] stated, might be persons who are extremely critical and/or advocate the overthrow of the government through the use of force; he named the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization as an example. The representative stated that family members of these persons could face difficulties leaving the country, but added that the son of Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the Mujahedin, lives in Iran and goes to university there. And also ....that relatives of high profile refugee claimants outside Iran could face some difficulties.” [2t]
27.14 The Advisory Panel on Country Information (APCI) review of the COI Service’s Iran COI Report of Augst 2008, undertaken by Dr Reza Molavi and Dr Mohammad M Hedayati-Kakhki of the Centre for Iranian Studies at Durham University, dated 23 September 2008, (APCI Report 2008) stated that:
“According to Article 34, any Iranian who leaves the country illegally, without a valid passport or similar travel documents, will be sentenced to between one and three years imprisonment, or will receive a fine between 100,000 and 500,000 Rials. In order to proceed the cases relating to illegal departure, a special court is located in Mehrabad Airport in Tehran. Its branch number is given as 1610. If an Iranian arrives in the country, without a passport or any valid travel documents, the official will arrest them and take them to this court. The court assesses the background of the individual, the date of their departure from the country, the reason for their illegal departure, their connection with any organisations or groups and any other circumstances. The judge will decide the severity of the punishment within the parameters of Article 34. This procedure also applies to people who are deported back to Iran, not in the possession of a passport containing an exit visa; in this case the Iranian Embassy will issue them with a document confirming their nationality.…illegal departure is often prosecuted in conjunction with other, unrelated offences. Such a methodology appears to suggest that it is the investigation into the facts surrounding the easily observable and provable offence of illegal departure, namely the motive for such an act (as a decision to depart illegally suggests a desire to escape prosecutorial/police detection for past illegal deeds), that eventually results in the discovery of the underlying offence, leading to a combined prosecution.” [6a] (p76)
See also Exit and Return.
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Exiles / dissidents outside Iran

27.15 According to Jane’s Sentinel, Iran: External Affairs, updated on 30 April 2009:
“The Khomeini era (1979-89) was characterised by anti-Western revolutionary rhetoric and the war with Iraq, during which European relations with Iran took a ‘transatlantic solidarity pattern’ and an overall atmosphere of ‘cold peace’, with the Europeans having been sympathetic to the plight of the US with its Tehran embassy hostage crisis of the early 1980s. The EU was also dismayed at what had become a covert Iranian policy of terror and assassinations of Iranian exiles and dissidents in Europe by what would later be largely proven to be direct orders or tacit approval of the top echelon of Iran's political leadership, namely Ayatollah Ruhollah Khamenei and then President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani. Ayatollah Ali Khomeini's 1989 fatwa of a death sentence on the British author of The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie, ultimately led to the breaking off of diplomatic relations with the UK. Although most of the tens of political murders in Europe on the part of Iran occurred during the 1980s, several high profile assassinations did take place in the 1990s.” [125a]
See Latest News and Political affiliation for recent information on Iranian protesters abroad
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Foreign refugees
28.01 The US State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2008, Iran, released on 25 February 2009, (USSD Report 2008) stated:
“The law provides means for granting asylum or refugee status to qualified applicants in accordance with the 1951 UN Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 protocol, and the government had a system for providing protection to refugees. The government did not always provide protection against the expulsion or return of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened…
“Since 2007 authorities maintained approximately 19 ‘No Go Areas’ in the country for Afghan refugees, according to UNHCR. Refugees were required to register and relocate in areas the government approved; those who did not were considered unregistered and remained subject to deportation. Afghan and Iraqi refugees faced a lack of job opportunities, and the government at times failed to grant them residence or work permits, effectively preventing them from obtaining health insurance coverage.” [4a] (Section 2d)
28.02 The United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants World Refugee Survey on Iran 2009 (USCRI 2009), released on 17 June 2009, stated that in 2008:
“Iran recognized more than a million refugees and asylum seekers, including some 936,000 Afghans and nearly 58,100 Iraqis. There were also more than one million unregistered Afghans in the country…Most Afghans lived in villages and urban areas, but about 27,000 stayed in the six refugee settlements administered by the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigration Affairs (BAFIA)…Most Iraqi refugees lived in urban areas, but around 5,000 stayed in 12 refugee settlements. UNHCR helped some 2,400 Iraqis repatriate although new Iraqi refugees continued to arrive.” [35a]
28.03 The USCRI 2009 also reported that:
“Iran deported over 406,000 Afghans in 2008 and over 720,000 over the past two years. Although both the Government and UNHCR characterized the deportees as illegally present economic migrants, in the Chamany Babrak reception camps in Kabul, most could produce refugee documentation. Iranian soldiers also reportedly evicted entire refugee settlements without checking for status. Authorities deported many without warning, separating them from their families, with little time to collect belongings and wages. Others claimed that authorities beat, detained, or required them work unpaid for days before deportation.
“Authorities postponed negotiations to renew the Tripartite agreement, declared Sistan and Balouchistan provinces to be off limits to all foreigners, regardless of status.
“BAFIA re-registered over the internet the Afghan refugees it recognized and issued them six-month, renewable residence permits if they paid registration fees and local taxes. Authorities compelled refugee men under 60 to apply and pay for temporary work permits but for women this was optional.” [35a]

28.04 The USCRI 2009 survey further stated that: “Iran issues Special Identity Cards (SIDs) with greater privileges to Afghan refugees who are religious students, disabled in the Iran-Iraq war, relatives of martyrs, or married to Iranians. Children of registered refugees receive refugee cards upon reaching school age. Law-enforcement officials, judiciary, and local authorities all recognize the residence cards issued in the 2008 registration.” [35a]

28.05 A report by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit on second-generation Afghans in Iran, published in April 2008, explained the different identity cards issued by the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs (BAFIA):
“The identification (ID) card constitutes the external layer of an individual’s identity and records the individual’s personal characteristics. Since the arrival of Afghans in the late 1970s, BAFIA has issued several identification cards in a variety of colours. For example, from 1979–92, most Afghans entering Iran were issued with ‘blue cards’ which indicated their status as involuntary migrants or mohajerin. Blue card holders were granted indefinite permission to stay in Iran legally. Until 1995, blue card holders had access to subsidised health care and food, and free primary and secondary education, but were barred from owning their own businesses or working as street vendors, and their employment was limited to low-wage, manual labour. … ID cards are required to register children at school and to travel outside of the place of residence registered on the card. Respondents had been issued with various coloured ID cards from BAFIA (pink, red, green, gold), each colour representing a certain year of issue and period of validity. … Characteristics of the cards listed as being held by respondents follow:
“• Amayesh identification (pink card): issued by BAFIA since 2003, the majority of Afghans in Iran are said to hold Amayesh identification.
“• Amayesh identification (gold card): issued by BAFIA, these cards accord additional rights such as the right to have a bank account in Iran, and are issued to high-ranking figures such as Afghan clergy, and those with government positions.
“• Educational passport: issued by universities and religious schools to Afghan students to indicate full-time enrolment as students.
“• Iranian identification (shenasnameh): issued by BAFIA to children aged 18 years and above, born of mixed marriages whose Afghan parent has a passport from Afghanistan.” [110] (p49)
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Citizenship and nationality

29.01 The US Office of Personnel Management (USOPM) 2001 report Citizenship Laws of the World stated that citizenship is based upon the Iranian Civil Code which stipulates that “In general, birth within the territory of Iran does not automatically confer citizenship.” Some instances where birth within Iran does confer citizenship is when a child is born to unknown parents; children born to non-citizens, one of whom was born within Iran; or a child born to a non-citizen, if after reaching the age of 18 the young person continues to live within Iran for at least one year. A child born to an Iranian father regardless of the country of birth is Iranian by descent. [32] On 24 September 2006 Iran’s parliament passed a law allowing children with an Iranian mother and a foreign father to acquire Iranian nationality after they reach 18. (Gulfnews.com, 25 September 2006) [20a] “According to the country’s civil code, citizenship was derived from birth in the country or from the male parent. Citizenship could be acquired upon the fulfillment of the following criteria: persons were at least age 18, lived in the country for more than five years, were not military service escapees, and had not been convicted of a major crime in the country of origin or country of residence.” (USSD, 2007) [4t] (Section 2d)
29.02 The USOPM 2001 report stated that:
“Iranian citizenship may be acquired upon fulfilment of the following conditions: Person must be at least 18 years of age, have resided in Iran for five years, not be a military service escapee, and not have been convicted of a major crime in any country. The wives and minor children (under 18) of naturalized Iranian citizens are also considered Iranian citizens.” Dual citizenship is not recognised. [32]
29.03 An interview with an Iranian lawyer, Shahram Mohammadzadeh, published in the Etemaad Daily Newspaper on 26 June 2002 reported him as saying:
“According to Article 2 of Iran's Civil Code, anyone born to an Iranian father, no matter if born in Iran or abroad is considered an Iranian citizen. No reference has, however, been made to the mother's citizenship. Meanwhile, this is pointed out in Paragraph 6 of Article 976, according to which, once a woman of foreign citizenship gets married to an Iranian man, she will automatically be considered an Iranian citizen. Therefore, it won't make much difference in Iran whether the mother is an Iranian or a foreigner. In either case the father's citizenship serves as a decisive factor in the rule of descent blood.” [68]
29.04 The UNICEF report, Birth Registration in Iran, dated July 2005 set out the relevant laws regarding Iranian nationality:
“Article 976 of the Civil Code provides that the following persons are regarded as Iranian nationals:
“1. All residents of Iran except those whose foreign nationality is proven; the foreign nationality of those whose documents of nationality are not objected by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran is indisputable;

2. A person whose father is an Iranian national regardless of his/her place of birth;

3. A person born in Iran and whose parents are not known;

4. A person born in Iran whose parents are not Iranian nationals but one of whom was born in Iran;

5. A person born in Iran whose father is a non-Iranian national but who has resided in Iran for at least one year before reaching the age of 18;

6. Any non-Iranian woman who marries an Iranian national;

7. Any previously non-Iranian national who has legally adopted Iranian nationality.

“Note: Children whose parents are diplomats and consular agents are not subject to paragraphs 4 & 5 of this article.

“Article 977 of the Civil Law states: Whenever the persons specified in Paragraph 4 of Article 976 reach 18 years of age and desire to adopt their father’s nationality, they must forward their written request and enclose to it the approval of the government of the country their father is a national of, stating that they shall recognize their status of nationality, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within one year.
“If the persons specified in Paragraph 5 of Article 976 reach 18 years of age and desire to preserve the nationality of their father, they must forward their written request and enclose to it the approval of the government of the country their father is a national of, stating that they shall recognize their status of nationality, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Granting nationality… Most states confer nationality according to the principle of jus soli (which translates literally as ‘law of the soil’) or jus sanguinis (‘law of blood’) or a combination of the two. By civil law, Iranian nationality is conferred mostly by jus sanguinis on the paternal side; children cannot acquire the nationality of their mothers.
“Iran has not ratified the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which provides that children should acquire the nationality of the State in which they were born if they are not granted nationality by any other State, or if such children fail to make the proper applications to obtain this right, then they should be entitled to the nationality of one of their parents. So far, no measures have been adopted by Iranian Registry Law to ensure the child’s right to acquire a nationality, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless. Those born of Iranian mothers married to foreign men who have abandoned them are often left without a nationality or a birth certificate because of prevailing laws.
“According to Article 1060 of Civil Law, the marriage of an Iranian woman to a foreign national—provided there is no legal prohibition—is allowed only if the Government issues special permission.” [10h] (p7-8)
ID cards
29.05 The Danish Immigration Services Report of April 2009 on their fact finding mission to Iran from 24 August to 2 September 2008 advised that:
“According to the Attorney at Law, Iran presently operates with two kinds of ID cards. One ID card is called ‘Shenasnameh’. It is, at present time, the most used ID card and is issued after registration of birth. During the last years, Iran has issued a new national ID card. This ID card has a unique ID number for every Iranian citizen. The previous ID card did not have any unique number since it was issued in different towns and the numbers often repeated themselves. Not all Iranians are in possession of this new ID card yet, though it is the aim of the government that this ID card will replace the ‘Shenasnameh’ and become the only accepted ID card in Iran. Iranian citizens who have been issued with the new national ID card often carry both this ID card and the ‘Shenasnameh’ on them.” [86b] (paragraph 8.1)