Law or policy reform enabling automatic acquisition of nationality The key differences between Article 5 and Article 13 are that Article 5 is limited to former USSR citizens and recognizes them automatically as citizens, whereas the naturalization procedure of Article 13 does not limit its scope according to former nationality but is a discretionary procedure which also sets out additional conditions (knowledge of the State or official language sufficient for communication, proof of source of subsistence and commitment to comply with the Constitution and legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic). Article 14 establishes a facilitated naturalization procedure separate from the ordinary one set forth in Article 13. According to the simplified procedure in Article 14, foreign citizens or stateless persons need to prove only one year of permanent residence in the Kyrgyz Republic if they meet designated criteria,23 but otherwise need to fulfil the other naturalization criteria.24 In 2012, the Law was amended to grant the right to naturalization through a simplified procedure to former citizens who returned to reside permanently in the Kyrgyz Republic, as well as to foreign and stateless women married to Kyrgyz citizens and residing permanently in the Kyrgyz Republic. These categories of individuals are exempted from the residence requirement of Article 13.1 and also from the requirement to speak the State or official language. Although the amendment introduces an element of gender discrimination in the law by facilitating acquisition of citizenship for women married to nationals, it aims specifically to address the situation of Uzbek women who reside in Kyrgyzstan in violation of Uzbek and Kyrgyz migration rules and possess only expired Uzbek passports. Because of their failure to renew these passports and register with the Uzbek consular office in Bishkek, many of these women may be stateless due to an Uzbek law whereby citizens who reside abroad for five years without registering with the Uzbek authorities may have their citizenship withdrawn. 23 These include: an individual who has at least one parent who is a Kyrgyz national and who resides in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic; an individual who was born in the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic and held the nationality of the former USSR; and an individual who is restoring his or her status as a national of the Kyrgyz Republic. 24 Article 14 also offers facilitated naturalization to two additional groups. First, ethnic Kyrgyz who are nationals or residents of a foreign State can apply to acquire Kyrgyz nationality through the facilitated naturalization procedure on the same terms as for the other groups established in Article 14. Furthermore, Article 14 establishes an even more relaxed procedure, waiving all of the naturalization requirements set forth in Article 13 for the following categories of children: a child with one parent who is a Kyrgyz citizen (the application is to be made by the Kyrgyz parent proving consent of the other parent); a child whose only parent is a Kyrgyz citizen (the application is to be made by the sole Kyrgyz parent); a child or person with disabilities whose legal guardian or caretaker is a Kyrgyz citizen (an application is to be made by the legal guardian). 24 U N H C R > G P P A C T I O N 1 : R E S O LV I N G E X I S T I N G M A J O R S I T U AT I O N S O F S TAT E L E S S N E S S