Nationality, Civil Status and Passports

The office of lawyer Ali Barakat in Baghdad, based in al-Yarmouk, follows the matters that arise between individuals and the nationality, civil status, passports and residency departments of the Ministry of Interior: issuing the national card and correcting its data, proving, acquiring and recovering Iraqi nationality, passports, recording births, marriages and deaths in the civil record, residence of foreign nationals outside the work-permit framework, and challenging decisions made in these files. Matters are explained here from the texts published in the Official Gazette as shown in the Iraqi Legislation Database.

The constitutional framework for nationality and movement

Article 18 of the Constitution provides that Iraqi nationality is the right of every Iraqi and the basis of citizenship, and that anyone born to an Iraqi father or an Iraqi mother is Iraqi. It prohibits withdrawing nationality from an Iraqi by birth for any reason, allows anyone whose nationality was withdrawn to request its return, and permits multiple nationality, while requiring anyone holding a sovereign or senior security post to give up any other acquired nationality. Its sixth paragraph leaves nationality rules to statute and gives the competent courts jurisdiction over claims arising from them. Article 44 guarantees Iraqis freedom of movement, travel and residence inside and outside Iraq, and bars exiling them, removing them or denying them return.

Who applies these laws?

Files are spread across bodies within the Ministry of Interior:

• The General Nationality Directorate, headed by the Director General of Nationality, which the first article of the National Card Law calls "the General Directorate".
• The Nationality and Civil Information Directorate, created within the General Directorate by the third article of the National Card Law. Under the fourth article it builds the civil information system, migrates nationality and civil records into it, and links the identification numbers of family members.
• The Passports Directorate, attached to the Ministry of Interior, which issues passports of every type under the second article of the Passports Law.
• The General Residency Directorate, the competent authority under the Residency of Foreigners Law, whose residency officers exercise the powers the Director General delegates to them.

Abroad, Iraqi consulates and missions exercise some of these powers. The fourth article of the Passports Law requires the competent official at a mission to issue or renew passports for Iraqis abroad, and article 11 of the National Card Law makes notifying the consulate the route for recording events for Iraqis living outside Iraq.

Address and residence information

The law ties residence information to the civil information system. The ninth article gives every registered person an address, being the place of permanent residence, and makes that address the one relied on in any transaction requiring proof of address. The tenth article requires the head of the family to complete the residence form for themselves and their household, requires an Iraqi arriving in Iraq who has never completed the form to visit the information office within thirty days of entry, and requires anyone who changes permanent residence to notify the information office at the new address. Temporary residence is excluded from these rules.

Who may see the record?

The civil record is not open to all. Article 14 limits requests for a copy of the record, for official transactions, to the head of the family, the record holder, siblings, children, a spouse, a guardian, a custodian, a curator and an agent. Article 15 prohibits circulating data or carrying out electronic transactions with the database outside the General Directorate's control or without the Director General's consent. Article 17 allows the Director General to provide information to bodies after checking the reasons for the request, and to refuse by a reasoned decision; anyone receiving information may not use it for any other purpose.

The national card and the civil record

National Card Law No. 3 of 2016 replaced Civil Status Law No. 65 of 1972, which its article 45 repealed. Under its second article the law aims to create a civil information system combining the data of the nationality certificate, the civil status identity card and the residence card, to give every Iraqi a fixed civil number and every family a number, and to issue a national card replacing those three documents. Article 35 provides that the card is accepted by government and non-government bodies to prove identity and Iraqi nationality. The fifth article makes information and documents produced by the system legally conclusive unless the contrary is proved by a court decision.

Most practical disputes start with an error in the record: an incomplete name, a wrong date of birth, a missing surname, or a duplicated entry. Articles 29 to 31 therefore set out administrative correction, articles 21 to 25 deal with correcting and changing names and registering a surname, and articles 32 and 33 deal with claims to cancel fictitious entries.

Recording events

Under article 11 the head of the family must notify the directorate of new events in the family within sixty days. Under article 12 the health authorities send births and deaths to the directorate within thirty days, and personal status courts send marriage contracts and decisions on talaq and separation once final. Article 28 deals with adding marriages to the record, including an Iraqi woman's marriage to a foreign national, and with claims to prove an unregistered marriage after the death of one or both spouses. See registering births, marriages and deaths.

Nationality: proof, acquisition and loss

Under the third article of Nationality Law No. 26 of 2006, a person born to an Iraqi father or an Iraqi mother is Iraqi, as is a person born in Iraq to unknown parents. Articles 4 to 8 govern the cases where the Minister may treat a person as Iraqi, naturalisation, and the oath of loyalty a naturalised person takes before the competent nationality director within ninety days of notification. The tenth article provides that an Iraqi who acquires a foreign nationality keeps Iraqi nationality unless he or she renounces it in writing, and governs recovery after returning and residing for a year. Article 15 allows acquired nationality to be withdrawn in defined cases. See naturalisation and loss and renunciation of nationality.

Passports

Passports Law No. 32 of 2015 sets four passport types. Every Iraqi receives an individual passport to which no one else may be added, and no one may hold more than one valid passport of the same type. An Iraqi aged eighteen or over is entitled to a passport, a minor may be issued one with the consent of the guardian, and the Personal Status Court hears the request where the guardian is absent. See the Iraqi passport.

Residence of foreign nationals

Residency of Foreigners Law No. 76 of 2017 applies to natural persons who are foreign nationals and governs their entry, exit and residence. Its ninth article covers entry and one-year renewable residence for joining the head of the family, for study, for a foreign woman whose Iraqi husband has died or divorced her, and for the spouse and children of an Iraqi man or woman who hold foreign passports. The residence of foreign workers and work permits are covered on separate pages in the employment areas. Residence unrelated to work is covered on residence of non-Iraqis.

Challenging decisions

Article 100 of the Constitution prohibits any law from shielding an administrative act or decision from challenge. Article 19 of the Nationality Law gives the administrative courts jurisdiction over claims arising from it, and article 20 allows an applicant for naturalisation and the Minister to challenge the administrative court's decision before the federal court. The National Card Law has its own routes, including reconsideration of a refusal to correct within thirty days where new official documents are provided. The State Council Law, in article 7, requires a grievance to the administrative body within thirty days before a challenge before the Court of Administrative Justice. See challenging Nationality Directorate decisions.

Topics in this area

• The national card: issue and correction
• The Iraqi nationality certificate
• The Iraqi passport
• Correcting a name or surname
• Registering births, marriages and deaths
• Naturalisation
• Loss and renunciation of Iraqi nationality
• Civil record copies, death notification and birth deeds
• Residence of non-Iraqis
• Challenging Nationality Directorate decisions

What is usually reviewed in a file

Review of any file in this area starts from the official document itself: the copy of the civil record produced by the system, the national card, the passport, or the administrative decision to be challenged and the date it was notified. Time limits in these laws are often short, such as thirty days to seek reconsideration of a refused correction, fifteen days to object to the Minister against refusal of a foreigner's residence, and ninety days to take the oath of loyalty after a naturalisation decision. Reading the text that applies on the date of the event comes before any step.

Legal basis and sources

1. Constitution of the Republic of Iraq 2005, articles 18 and 44 (Official Gazette, issue 4012 of 28/12/2005)
2. Iraqi Nationality Law No. 26 of 2006 (Official Gazette, issue 4019 of 7/3/2006)
3. National Card Law No. 3 of 2016 (Official Gazette, issue 4396 of 1/2/2016)
4. Passports Law No. 32 of 2015 (Official Gazette, issue 4381 of 21/9/2015)
5. Residency of Foreigners Law No. 76 of 2017 (Official Gazette, issue 4466 of 23/10/2017)
6. State Council Law No. 65 of 1979, as amended, article 7 (Official Gazette, issue 2714 of 11/6/1979)

Frequently asked questions

Topics in this area

• 01The national card: issue and correction of dataIssuing and replacing the national card and correcting errors in the civil record under articles 5, 29, 30 and 34 to 36 of Iraq's National Card Law No. 3 of 2016.
• 02The Iraqi nationality certificate: when it is asked for and what replaced itThe status of the Iraqi nationality certificate after National Card Law No. 3 of 2016, and the basis of nationality in articles 2 and 3 of Nationality Law No. 26 of 2006 and article 18 of the Constitution.
• 03The Iraqi passport: issue, renewal and damaged passportsIssuing and renewing an Iraqi passport, replacing a lost or damaged one and travel bans under Passports Law No. 32 of 2015: passport types, minors' passports, reporting loss and cancellation.
• 04Correcting a name or surname in the civil recordCorrecting a full name, changing a first name or surname and registering a surname under articles 19 and 21 to 26 of Iraq's National Card Law No. 3 of 2016.
• 05Registering births, marriages and deaths in the civil recordHow births, marriages and deaths enter the civil record under articles 11, 12, 19, 20, 27 and 28 of Iraq's National Card Law No. 3 of 2016, notification periods, and events of Iraqis abroad.
• 06Naturalisation as an Iraqi national under the Nationality LawConditions for naturalisation in articles 4 to 9, 11 and 14 of Iraq's Nationality Law No. 26 of 2006: ten years' lawful residence, the husband of an Iraqi woman, the foreign wife, and the oath of loyalty.
• 07Loss, renunciation and recovery of Iraqi nationalityWhen Iraqi nationality ends: written renunciation, withdrawal of acquired nationality, the effect on children, and recovery, under article 18 of the Constitution and articles 10 and 12 to 18 of Nationality Law No. 26 of 2006.
• 08The civil record, family record copies and the effect of death on the recordWhat the civil record is under National Card Law No. 3 of 2016, who may request a copy, the evidential value of the system's data, the effect of death on the family record, and the claim to remove fictitious entries.
• 09Residence of foreign nationals in Iraq under Residency of Foreigners Law No. 76 of 2017The residence card and its renewal, one-year residence for an Iraqi's family and students, three-year residence, objecting to a refusal, and expulsion and removal under Residency of Foreigners Law No. 76 of 2017.
• 10Challenging decisions of the nationality and residence authoritiesRoutes for contesting nationality, national card and residence decisions in Iraq: review within thirty days, objection to the Minister, grievance then the administrative court, and appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court and the federal court.

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

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