Category 5: Children of labour migrants. Our survey discovered another, new category of persons in danger of becoming stateless, whose number could grow substantially in the future. These are the children of labour migrants who renounced their Kyrgyz citizenship - mainly in exchange for Russian citizenship. Labour migration to the Russian Federation and other CIS countries is quite common among young men and women, who often leave their children in the care of grandparents or other relatives. As local citizenship gives those labor migrants considerable advantages, they often opt to obtain it as soon as possible. In Russia, the most common destination for Kyrgyz labour migrants, the migrants can receive citizenship quite easily. In line with a bilateral agreement between the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Federation on simplified citizenship acquisition (#33), which was ratified on 24 May 1997, Kyrgyz citizens arriving in the Russian Federation for permanent residence can apply for and obtain Russian citizenship through simplified procedures within three months. In order to obtain Russian citizenship in the framework of this agreement, labour migrants de-register themselves from resiclence in the Kyrgyz Republic. But as they frequently do not really intend to reside permanently in the Russian Federation, they do not include their underage children in their application for citizenship acquisition. This legal collision could cause children to become stateless. If both parents opt for Russian citizenship without including their children, the Russian Federation will not automatically recognize them as its citizens later on. But if the children remain in the Kyrgyz Republic they will be unable to obtain Kyrgyz passports upon coming of age because current administrative practices determine childrens’ citizenship according to the citizenship of their parents. The authorities require applicants to provide copies of valid Kyrgyz passports of their parents or legal representatives, a copy of one parent’s passport if the second is absent, a certificate of affiliation with the citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic from the national DPVC, the provincial DPVC or their Passport and Visa Work Groups, or those of Osh City can be provided. Thus, in practice the citizenship of a child is not determined on the basis of his or her parents’ citizenship at the time of birth of the child, but at the time when the passport application is submitted. According to the law, however, such children should not face any obstacles obtaining their passport, as they are clearly Kyrgyz citizens as mentioned in 3.2.1. Even if one or both parents renounce their Kyrgyz citizenship, Article 19 of the new citizenship law allows any child under the guardianship or trusteeship of a Kyrgyz citizen to retain his or her Kyrgyz citizenship. Nonetheless, even though the existing legal framework protects such children against statelessness, the current practices of the authorities make it difficult for the children of migrants to obtain Kyrgyz passports even if they did not leave the country and did not renounce their citizenship or acquire another citizenship. According to the staff of passport offices, such cases will become more common, since the number of persons taking Russian citizenship is increasing as well. Unfortunately, no reliable statistics on the latter are available. 18 The Situation of Stateless Persons in the Kyrgyz Republic: Findings of Surveys Commissioned by the UNHCR