Condition for Refugees Not to Be Deported: Enrollment of Children in Schools

The Director General of Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs at the Ministry of Interior announced the validity of educational introduction letters for the children of migrants and refugees to prevent their deportation. According to ILNA, Ahmad Mohammadi Far stated that if law enforcement encounters migrants and refugees, they should not be deported if they show the educational introduction letter of their children and declare that their child is studying in school. Mohammadi Far also discussed the registration status of migrant students, noting that in 2015, 48,000 migrant students registered, but apparently some of these individuals did not attend classes voluntarily despite registering. Previously, Khalilollah Babalu, head of the International Affairs and Schools Abroad Center at the Ministry of Education, reported that over 360,000 Afghan students are currently studying in Iran. According to the official news agency IRNA, this education official stated on May 25 that the tuition fees for Afghan students are determined based on registration guidelines and the economic conditions of families, ranging from 1,200,000 to 3,600,000 rials depending on the educational level, and so far, no reports have been received from provinces indicating that any student has dropped out due to non-payment of tuition. However, even if public schools only charge this amount and do not request higher fees, migrants and refugees, especially those without adequate documentation in Iran, may not have the financial capacity to pay even this amount due to difficult living conditions. Saeed Payandi, a sociologist and education expert residing in Paris, spoke about the multiple barriers to education for migrants and refugees in Iran, most of whom are Afghans, and concluded that this results in hundreds of thousands of Afghan children not being integrated into the Iranian education system. According to statistics from the Afghan Ministry of Refugees, there are currently 1.4 million undocumented migrants in Iran. It is evident that these undocumented migrants struggle to meet basic living expenses due to difficulties in finding jobs. On the other hand, the Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor, and Social Welfare for International Affairs announced on August 27, 2015, that employing Afghan workers in 16 western and central provinces of Iran is prohibited. Mohammad Taqi Hosseini stated that the aim of this decision, according to the Foreign Nationals Organization's directive, is to better manage foreign nationals in these provinces. According to Tasnim News Agency, he mentioned that the fine for employing unauthorized foreign workers has increased to 118,700 tomans per day for each employer. These remarks come eight months after the Iranian Ministry of Interior announced a ban on Afghan nationals residing in nine provinces and one year after the first vice president's directive prohibiting the employment of foreign nationals in Iran. In a directive issued in July 2014, Eshaq Jahangiri requested that the Iranian Ministry of Labor ensure that all governmental and non-governmental public agencies and related companies hire their necessary workers exclusively from the Iranian workforce to help address unemployment and create necessary conditions for managing foreign nationals. Mehrdad Darvishpour, a sociologist residing in Sweden, previously criticized similar behaviors towards migrants and refugees in Iran, asserting that adopting a structured policy recognizing the rights of migrants, including Afghans, and granting them equal citizenship rights is the first serious step that must be taken. The Islamic Republic of Iran hosts the second largest number of Afghan migrants after Pakistan. Reports indicate that about one million Afghan refugees with documentation and residency cards live in Iran, and visas have been issued for another 500,000 individuals.