Iranian MP Calls for Review of Citizenship Conditions for Afghan Immigrants

Zahra Elahian, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament, emphasised on the need to review the conditions for granting citizenship to Afghans.

Elahian said that if an Afghan obtains an Iranian birth certificate, there is no obstacle to their participation in elections, but the issue emerges when investigating the conditions in which they obtained the citizenship.

In an interview with the Young Journalists Club published on Tuesday, Elahian mentioned the existence of special conditions for granting Iranian citizenship to Afghan immigrants, although she did not provide further details.

This Iranian parliament member asked the country’s interior minister to attend the parliament and explain about the "unauthorised" entry of Afghans and the policies in place for them.

Afghans makes the largest immigrant population in Iran. Similar to Pakistan and Turkey, Iran deports individuals without residency documents.

Iranian officials report that following the Taliban's takeover of power in August 2021, the number of Afghan immigrants in Iran reached six million.

Zahra Elahian had previously claimed that "unauthorised immigrants" in Iran "do not adhere to any principles and have caused various security, economic, and social problems”.

Her statements regarding the examination of the conditions for granting Iranian citizenship to Afghan immigrants have surfaced even as last week, some Iranian media reported that on the verge of upcoming presidential elections in Iran, the image of an Afghan-Iranian citizenship ID became controversial, compelling the National Migration Organisation to respond and issue a statement.

As reported by Asr-e Iran, the migration organisation declared, "In response to the widespread dissemination of an identity card belonging to an individual [Afghan] with Iranian citizenship, and the connection of this matter to the activities of the National Immigration Organisation, we hereby clarify that the issuance of this identity card is not affiliated with any programmes of our organisation."

Some Iranian media outlets have called the announcement "deafening" and have called for transparency in this regard.