Iran�s Interior Ministry says it has approved residency permits for more than one million Afghan refugees living in the country.

Director General for Foreign Nationals and Immigrant Affairs of Iran�s Interior Ministry Sadiq Rezadoost said all nationals who came to Iran after political developments in Afghanistan last year, or who were given papers in the past years, should not worry because their papers will be extended, Financial Tribune reported.

�The residence permits of more than one million Afghan citizens have been extended; Afghan citizens should not worry, because their papers will be extended after this date and the conditions for their return to Afghanistan have not yet been provided,� said Rezadoost.

�A special residency card is also issued for those who are working in this country,� he added.

Officials of Afghanistan�s Ministry of Refugees and Repatriations (MoRR) say there are currently more than three million Afghan refugees in Iran and only one million of them have residency documents.

�In Iran, we have approximately three million refugees, of which two million still do not have residency documents,� said Abdulmutallab Haqqani, the spokesman of MoRR.

�The ministry of refugees has tried to get Iran to give them a residence permit so that they obtain all the rights for immigrants, according to international laws,� he said.

However, experts say Afghan refugees living in neighboring countries are facing many problems and challenges.

Recently, a quadrilateral meeting of the representatives of Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the International Organization for Migration was held in Iran to solve the problems of refugees.

In a meeting with Acting Higher Education Minister of Afghanistan Mawlawi Abdul Baqi Haqqani and after a scientific discussion last year, the Iranian ambassador in Kabul, Bahador Aminian, vowed to provide scholarships to Afghan students.

Haqqani asked the ambassador to assist Afghanistan in the sector of education, Bakhtar News Agency reported.

The Iranian envoy invited a technical delegation from Afghanistan�s Ministry of Higher Education to visit Iran and take a close look at Iran�s education system and use its experience.

He assured the Afghan Ministry of Higher Education of providing educational scholarships to Afghan students and teachers.

 

 

By MEHR�