The right to nationality in the Republic of Cyprus 26. According to the 1967 Republic of Cyprus Citizenship Law (updated in 2000), anyone has the right to RoC citizenship by birth, if a) they were born in Cyprus after the 15th of August 1960 and one of their parents was a citizen of the RoC. (art. 3(1)); b) they were born in a foreign country after 15th of August 1960, one of their parents was a citizen of the RoC, and their birth was registered “in the prescribed manner within two years from its occurrence” (art. 3(2)). 27. However, provision a) does not apply “to cases where the entry into or stay in Cyprus of any one of the parents of the said person was illegal” (art. 3(1)). Everyone who enters the island on the north side is considered to have entered the country illegally.37 28. Both provisions a) and b) do not apply if the person was born between 16th August 1960 and the entry into force of the Republic of Cyprus Citizenship (Amendment) Law of 1999, if the father was not a RoC citizen at the time, “unless the said person is of full age and capacity and submits an application to the Minister, in the prescribed manner, to be registered as a citizen of the Republic” (art. 3(3)). 29. In practice, a large group of children of Cypriot parents living in the north are denied their right to RoC nationality based on ethnicity. Only children who are of 100% Cypriot descent can acquire RoC nationality easily. Children from one Turkish parent and one “original Cypriot” parent38 are denied RoC nationality upon application. Grandchildren who have one Turkish grandparent and three Cypriot grandparents also cannot acquire RoC nationality. These people are considered by the RoC as part of the group of “illegal settlers”. 30. The specific situation of right to nationality for children of other “mixed marriages”, where one “original Cypriot” and one parent of another nationality and/or ethnicity live in north Cyprus and have a child, remains unclear. Some people in this situation seem able to pass on their RoC nationality upon application, and some do not – why exactly is unknown. 31. Due to the length of the conflict, the problem described above of people with a legal right to a RoC nationality who are not able to materialise this right, is growing exponentially. There is now a third generation of children of people who were born in the north after 1974. These are the grandchildren of mixed marriages that were concluded in the 1970s and 1980s. Although it is difficult to estimate how many people are in this way denied their right to nationality, we estimate that this concerns between 15.000-25.000 people.39 32. Applications for RoC nationality in these situations are not officially denied, they are “pending”. People are told to come back in a few months, a process that goes on for years (in many cases, since shortly after the opening of the checkpoints between north and south in 2003. This policy is said to have been installed several months after the borders opened). People are told different reasons why their applications are not accepted, such as the fact that their parents got married in north Cyprus after 1974 and therefore their marriage (and their offspring) is not legally 37 http://www.cyprusvisa.eu/cyprus-admission-restrictions.html; https://cyprusembassy.fi/main/filemanager/EntryregulationsCyprus.pdf 38 Referring to anyone who was a RoC national before 1974. 39 See footnote 35.