Afghan Immigrants in Iran and Citizenship

Abstract

Presence of Afghans in Iran has been critical issue for Iranian government. During the Open Door Policy of Iran, huge population of Afghans entered Iran without official monitoring. They have married and got children. Many of these marriages are not officially registered in Iran nor in Afghanistan. Therefore, Iran has faced many illegitimate marriages and children. This paper is to explain the reasons of Afghan entrance to Iran, their situation in Iran and the consequences of their presence for Iranian government. The main goal of the article is to demonstrate how critical the problem is if it is not dealt with as soon as possible.