Eliyeh Delavari indicating that in 2017 alone, almost 50,000 children born to Iranian mothers and foreign fathers failed to obtain an official identity document128. Finally, in 2019, Parliament signed a new law which allows Iranian mothers to file an application for their children from the moment of birth, regardless of whether they are born in Iran or abroad. Those who are 18 or above are also able to apply for Iranian nationality independently. A security check by the Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is required in both cases129. It may well be argued that the 2019 law takes a fundamental step towards eliminating the gap between men and women in the law. The most significant advantage of the new law is that it includes children born to Iranian mothers abroad- a crucial matter which was neglected by the 2006 Amendment. Although the new law is implemented fully and retroactively, the gap is still remaining. The Civil Code grants nationality to children born to Iranian fathers automatically but that is not the same for Iranian mothers as they are still required to file an application for their children. Moreover, it still puts children of those Iranian women who are married to undocumented migrants or refugees at risk of statelessness130. The Administrative Action issued by the Cabinet on 2 June 2020 on this new law, clarifies that the law applies to every Iranian woman who is married to a non-Iranian man and has a child under the age of 18. Under this regulation, an Iranian woman is a woman who has been an Iranian citizen, according to Iranian laws and regulations, before the birth of her child. Article 3 of the Action states that the criterion for an Iranian mother’s legal marriage with the foreign father of the child covered by this law is an official marriage contract or any valid legal document demonstrating the occurrence of marriage or the issuance of a judicial decision (domestic or foreign) indicating marriage and the existence of a marital relationship. The issuance and enforcement of a final divorce decree or the annulment of a marriage does not preclude the consideration of an application for the declaration of Iranian citizenship for the children of a marriage resulting in a divorce decree131. 5.2. Gender Disparities Regarding Spousal Transfer of Nationality Under both Islamic law and Iranian Civil Law, marriages of Muslim women and non-Muslim men is forbidden except in cases where a non-Muslim man converts to Islam formally132. Only conversion to Islam will enable the marriage to take place which alone does not grant the foreign husband Iranian nationality. In general, an Iranian woman must undergo a very lengthy and laborious procedure to apply and obtain citizenship for her foreign husband. In the initial phase, her father’s or grandfather’s permission is required prior to her marriage if she has never been 128 The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR Welcomes Iran’s New Nationality Law Addressing Statelessness, 8 October 2019, available at: http://unhcr.org.ir/en/news/50796/UNHCR-welcomesIran’s-new-nationality-law-addressing-statelessness . 129 The Official Website of the Iranian Cabinet, 23 September 2019, available at: http://cabinetoffice.ir/fa/news/5952/-‫ﻣردان‬-‫ﺑﺎ‬-‫اﯾراﻧﯽ‬-‫زﻧﺎن‬-‫ازدواج‬-‫از‬-‫ﺣﺎﺻل‬-‫ﻓرزان‬-‫ﺗﺎﺑﻌﯾت‬-‫ﺗﮑﻠﯾف‬-‫ﺗﻌﯾﯾن‬-‫ﻗﺎﻧون‬-‫اﺻﻼح‬-‫ﻗﺎﻧون‬-‫اﺑﻼغ‬ ‫ﺧﺎرﺟﯽ‬. 130 UNHCR does not hold any statistics on stateless persons in Iran: https://www.unhcr.org/5ee200e37.pdf. However, by referring to government statistics, a news media article mentions that there are 49,000 children lacking proof of nationality: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2019/09/09/Iran-offers-citizenship-tostateless-people-with-Iranian-roots-in-Kuwait. 131 Administrative Action referring to the approval of new regulations in the Cabinet, regarding the granting of Iranian citizenship to children born of Iranian women to foreign men, 2 June 2020; Available at: http://www.rrk.ir/Laws/ShowLaw.aspx?Code=22043. 132 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 23 May 1928, Art. 1059. 20 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/13- © 2020 Author(s)