citizenship in a special register and sends a copy to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry. The original is
stored in the consulate for one year.92
For Uzbekistan, the procedures for loss of nationality are the same as those described above for loss of
nationality for prolonged residence abroad.
2.5.3 Loss of nationality affecting spouse and children
The 1961 Convention also provides that if a person loses or is deprived of his or her nationality, that
person’s spouse and children shall not be affected by such an action, if the result would be that they
would then become stateless.93
Between the ages of 14 and 18, a child must consent in writing to any change in his/her citizenship in
all five states.94 This measure can provide some protection against statelessness, for instance if the
parents renounce their nationality and become stateless. Elsewhere, children under 14 are most at risk
of statelessness if one or both of their parents lose their citizenship.
In Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, a child under the age of 14 loses nationality
if both parents renounce their nationality.95 This could put the child at risk of statelessness in light of
the general lack of safeguards in the situations described above. In Turkmenistan, however, a child can
keep citizenship even if both parents change their nationality, provided at least one of its parents
makes a request to this effect.96
In these countries, the child generally keeps citizenship if only one parent renounces his/her
nationality.97 The Tajik law establishes the same guarantee for children of a parent who loses his/her
nationality.98 In Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, children under the age of 16 are not to be affected by loss
of nationality for prolonged residence abroad without consular registration. Nothing similar is
mentioned with regard to children of parents who lose their nationality on other grounds.99 The
Kazakh law is silent on the effect on children of the loss of citizenship affecting one or both parents.
In Tajikistan, the termination of the nationality of the parents also terminates citizenship of a child
under 14, which creates a risk of statelessness.100 If the child has two parents who are citizens of
Tajikistan, and only one has lost their nationality, the child retains his/her Tajik citizenship.
Citizenship can be terminated only with written consent of the remaining parent and the guarantee of
citizenship elsewhere.101
In Kyrgyzstan, it is not clear whether the child of someone who loses their citizenship may also
become stateless. Kyrgyz Nationality Law is silent on the issue, but at the same time the Nationality
92
Articles 21-23, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Instruction No 263 ‘On the Compilation of Documents on Citizenship
Questions’, 2000.
93
Article 6, 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
94
Article 31, 1995 Citizenship Law of Tajikistan; Article 21, 2007 Citizenship Law of Kyrgyzstan; Article 28, 1991
Citizenship Law of Kazakhstan; Article 30, 1992 Citizenship Law of Turkmenistan; Article 28, 1992 Citizenship Law of
Uzbekistan.
95
Article 24, 1992 Citizenship Law of Turkmenistan; Article 22, 1991 Citizenship Law of Kazakhstan; Article 22, 1992
Citizenship Law of Uzbekistan; Article 32, 1995 Citizenship Law of Tajikistan.
96
Article 24, 1992 Citizenship Law of Turkmenistan.
97
Article 26, 1992 Citizenship Law of Turkmenistan; Article 25, 1992 Citizenship Law of Uzbekistan; Article 24, 1991
Citizenship Law of Kazakhstan; Article 34, 1995 Citizenship Law of Tajikistan.
98
Article 34, 1995 Citizenship Law of Tajikistan.
99
Section IV, Para 2, 1992 Regulation No UP-500 ‘On the Procedure for Considering Issues related to the Citizenship of the
Republic of Uzbekistan’; Kazakhstan Consular Services Regulation No 217, approved by the Decree of the President, dated
27 September 1999.
100
Article 32, 1995 Citizenship Law of Tajikistan.
101
Ibid, Article 34.
~ 18 ~
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