600,000 Illegal Foreign Nationals Returned to Iran After Deportation

The Iranian Minister of Interior states that last year, 730,000 illegal Afghan nationals were returned to the country, but 600,000 of them returned to Iran again. According to the state news agency IRNA, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli emphasized on Tuesday, August 13, in the Social Commission of the Parliament that the ministry is seriously working on organizing illegal foreign nationals. Rahmani Fazli had previously stated that due to the lack of control over Iran's eastern borders, illegal Afghan nationals return to Iran after being arrested and deported. Some Iranian officials have previously announced that despite the annual deportation of more than 500,000 Afghan nationals lacking residence permits, the number of Afghan nationals in Iran has not changed. According to the 2016 census, about 1,584,000 Afghan nationals live in Iran, but some government officials claim the number is around three million. In recent years, the Iranian government has enacted regulations to facilitate the return of Afghan nationals to their country, including a 'regulation to expedite the return process of Afghan nationals,' which imposes restrictions on Afghan nationals without residence permits in Iran. Additionally, on July 13, 2014, the Iranian government issued a directive prohibiting the employment of foreign nationals in public and private non-governmental entities in Iran. In recent years, the residency of Afghans has been prohibited in several provinces of Iran, including Fars, Isfahan, Bushehr, South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, Khuzestan, Semnan, Qazvin, Kerman, Golestan, Markazi, and Yazd. The approval of these directives and laws has been the subject of extensive discussions in Iranian civil society and has led to significant protests. However, there have been previous reports about the use of Afghan nationals without work permits by municipal contractors for garbage collection. Meanwhile, Abbasali Gholizadeh, Deputy Director of the Foreign Nationals Department of the Ministry of Interior, stated on Wednesday, August 2, that 24,000 Afghan migrants work for municipal contractors in Tehran, of which only 16% have 'work cards.'