Iran streamlines migration management as foreign population falls below 5m
Iran’s Interior Ministry said Sunday that the country’s foreign population has fallen from an estimated 6.1 million to below 5 million as authorities tighten immigration management and align migrant presence with labor-market needs, IRNA reported, citing Nader Yarahmadi, head of the ministry’s Center for Foreign Nationals and Immigrants.
Yarahmadi said nearly 1.8 million undocumented foreign nationals left Iran last year through deportation or voluntary departure. The figures mark a substantial reduction under a government-led effort to bring the country’s migration framework into a more structured legal and administrative system.
“The policy is to legalize the presence of foreign nationals with a focus on labor,” Yarahmadi said, outlining a new employer-based scheme that allows businesses to apply through provincial offices overseeing foreign workers to meet their staffing needs.
He said the number of foreign students in Iranian schools has also dropped from 600,000 to 320,000, while consumption of essential goods and use of public services have declined.
Yarahmadi said a bill and parliamentary proposal to establish a National Migration Organization had been consolidated and finalized following coordination between the government and parliament. The legislation will proceed through legal and administrative procedures before being sent to the Guardian Council for final review. Authorities have also tightened requirements for renewing legal residency cards, including mandatory insurance, a judicial-services registration code and verified residential addresses. Foreign nationals are barred by law from residing in certain areas, he said.