Iraq: Information on the renewal of an Iraqi visitor's permit in Iran
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 March 1992 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | IRQ10478 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iraq: Information on the renewal of an Iraqi visitor's permit in Iran, 1 March 1992, IRQ10478, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aabbe8.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Published information on this specific subject is currently unavailable to the IRBDC in Ottawa.
The following information was provided by a representative at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters in Geneva (20 March 1992). It is common for Iraqi Shi'ites to have their visitors' permits renewed repeatedly. The representative added that although these persons are not entitled to Iranian nationality, a large number of Iraqi Shi'ites have an Iranian passport that was used to evade the Ottoman Empire's military service during World War I. This passport had not been invalidated by the Iranian government by 1980 and has been used by the Iraqi Shi'ites. These Iraqi Shi'ites were first resettled in different provinces of Iran but not in important urban cities. In order to travel to major Iranian cities like Teheran, these Iraqi Shi'ites had to request an internal travel document from the provincial authorities, which in turn requests them from the Ministry of the Interior in Teheran. The representative stated that this is not a practice applied only to Iraqi Shi'ites, but to all foreigners living in Iran for example diplomats and UNHCR representatives (Ibid.).
The UNHCR representative in Geneva stated that during the Ottoman Empire (before the creation of Iraq) a number of Iranian Shi'ites bought properties in what is now Iraq, especially around Baghdad, then established themselves and became Iraqi nationals. At the beginning of the Iraq-Iran War, the Iraqi regime expelled a large number of these Iraqi Shi'ites to Iran and gave them a certain financial compensation (Ibid.).
Additional and/or corroborating information on this subject is currently unavailable to the IRBDC in Ottawa.
Bibliography
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva. 20 March 1992. Telephone Interview with Representative.