Report on Citizenship Law: Afghanistan 3.3. Special institutional arrangements 3.3.1. The administrative procedure for acquiring citizenship by naturalisation In Afghanistan, an ad hoc commission composed of representatives of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Directorate General of Intelligence under the leadership of the Deputy Minister of Justice is established to investigate and analyse any applications pertaining to the acquisition, restoration or loss of citizenship. According to current legislation, the procedures for the acquisition, restoration and release from citizenship are relatively simple. When an application is submitted a standard administrative process is followed from the beginning to the end. Applications by children under the age of eighteen can be forwarded by their representatives. There are two main ways in which an applicant can submit an application: a) to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if the applicant resides in Afghanistan; and b) if the applicant resides outside Afghanistan, to the nearest diplomatic or consular mission of Afghanistan (Articles 36 and 38). Once an application for the acquisition or restoration of citizenship has been submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or an embassy or consulate abroad together with a completed citizenship form (Engate) and testimonials proving his or her identity, the applicant receives a receipt and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwards the application to the authoritative commission established under the supervision of the Ministry of Justice. According to the law on citizenship, the commission accurately and comprehensively evaluates the application and submits its findings and proposals to the president for a final decision. Decisions by the Afghan president with regard to naturalisation are released by special decree (Article 40). Applications pertaining to the restoration, renunciation and deprivation of citizenship follow almost the same procedure. However, there is a sharp distinction in that applications for restoration, renunciation and deprivation of citizenship are first evaluated by the commission and later submitted to the Council of Ministers. If the Council of Ministers approves the application for restoration or renunciation, it is a mere formality that the president will sign. Two important points remain vague in the laws. First, in cases where the requesting party is not satisfied with the decision, recourse to an institution like an appeal committee on citizenship, which is common in other countries, is not included in the law. Such a committee could easily be established under the structure of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Second, the regulations do not specify a specific timeframe for the application process, either for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or for embassies and consulate sections abroad. 4. Current political debates and reform plans Over the past fifteen years, the law on citizenship of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan enacted in 2000 has dealt with the citizenship of Afghan citizens. Over the last three decades of conflict in Afghanistan, the base of the Afghan legal system has been destroyed. As soon as a regime change took place, all laws, decrees, treaties and agreements were changed RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2017/9 - © 2017 Author 15