The impact of an Iranian woman's marriage with a foreign male on her children's nationality

Nationality is a political relationship between an individual and government and has specific legal effects. Marriage is one of the factors specifies and/or changes a person’s, his/her spouse’s, and their children’s nationality. The most important effect of marriage on the nationality of children appears when there is a disagreement over the nationality of parents. The paper studies the legal effects of the marriage of Iranian women with foreign men. The research shows that paragraphs 4-5 of article 976 of Iranian Civil Law do not resolve the problems concerning the nationality of children arising out of the marriage of Iranian women with non-Iranian men. The problems remain unsolved until such children are at the age of 18. Though the law was revised in 2006, it only provided facilities such residence in Iran, issuing marriage permission for such people. Thus, the paper’s suggestion is revising article 976.