Report on Citizenship Law: Iran is also worthy to note that, the non-marital nature of the parents’ relationship will not be affected by the rights conferred to the child73. 3.7. Ordinary Naturalisation There are certain requirements with respect to the possibility to acquire Iranian citizenship by naturalisation. These conditions are laid down under Article 979 and 980 of the Civil Code. The first requirement is that the applicant must be at least 18 years of age. This is notable as the age of majority (9 and 15 years for girls and boys respectively) is not the criterion here. The second requirement in order to naturalise as an Iranian citizen is residency of 5 years prior to the application whether interrupted or uninterrupted 74 . The residency condition for the naturalisation procedure is for the applicant to gain adequate and sufficient knowledge of the Iranian society. In other words, residing in Iran would be considered as an indication of the interest of the applicant in the culture, people and the society as a whole. Despite that, Article 980 provides that those who have rendered substantial services or assistance to public interest such as physicians, scientists and highly skilled individuals, or those who have Iranian wives by whom they have children, may be accepted as Iranian nationals without the fulfilment of the residency requirement. This is, however, subject to the approval of the Council of Ministers and provided that their naturalisation is advisable 75 . The third requirement for a naturalisation application is that the applicant shall not be a deserter76. That is to say, the applicant must have either performed the military service in his country or he must have been legally exempted from it. The reason behind including such a condition for naturalisation was the importance of military power during the Pahlavi dynasty. That was the time when performing military service in Iran became mandatory as the military power of countries was dependent on the physical readiness of their soldiers. Lastly, an applicant is only able to apply if she/he has not committed any major misdemeanours or non-political felonies77. It is common that countries do not grant nationality to those with criminal records even if they have resided in the country for a considerable time. Under former Iranian Criminal Law, a misdemeanour was defined as a minor crime which was punishable with imprisonment from 15 days to 3 years78. A felony was defined as a crime with the punishments including death penalty, life sentence, imprisonment level 1 which is from 3 years to 15 years, and imprisonment level 2 which is from 2 years to 10 years 79 . This classification does not exist in the current Criminal Law and as a result it is not clear what is considered as a misdemeanour or a felony80. It is also unclear what falls under the term ‘nonpolitical’ as it may have different nature under different legal and political structures. States do ‫ ﺣﻘوق ﺧﺎﻧواده‬،١٣٩٠، ١٢٩‫ ص‬،‫ ﺳﯾد ﺣﺳﯾن ﺻﻔﺎﯾﯽ و اﺳد ﷲ اﻣﺎﻣﯽ‬، ٢ ‫ﺟﻠد‬. (Hosein Safai and Asadolah Imami, Family Law, vol 2, Tehran: Tehran university publication, 2011, page 129). 74 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 23 May 1928, Art. 979 (2). 75 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 23 May 1928, Art. 980. 76 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 23 May 1928, Art. 979 (3). 77 Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 23 May 1928, Art. 979 (4). 78 Iranian General Penal Code, 22 December 1925, Art. 9, available at: http://www.qavanin.ir/Law/TreeText/83695. 79 Iranian General Penal Code, 22 December 1925, Art. 8, available at: http://www.qavanin.ir/Law/TreeText/83695. 80 Iran: Islamic Penal Code of Islamic Republic of Iran, 20 November 1991. Art. 1, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/518a19404.html. 73 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/13 - © 2020 Author(s) 11