The Estonian government wants to put an end to the system of issuing gray passports to non-citizens for children born in Estonia. The corresponding draft law has been approved and sent to parliament. The law is expected to come into force on January 1, 2027.
According to the draft law, children will receive an Estonian passport if there are no legal grounds for citizenship of another country, ERR reports.
According to Interior Minister Igor Taro, today, if both parents are holders of gray passports and have lived in Estonia for more than five years, that is, long-term, their child receives Estonian citizenship as a naturalized citizen by exception.
"In the future, the requirement that both parents must have lived in Estonia for a long time will no longer apply. A child can obtain citizenship through just one parent. The second parent must also be stateless and reside in Estonia legally, but there will be no requirement regarding both parents," Taro said on Radio 4.
In addition, parents will not be able to refuse to grant Estonian citizenship to their child if this would result in the child remaining a gray passport holder. This is a key innovation – children will receive an Estonian passport if they have no legal grounds for obtaining citizenship of another country.
The amendments will stop the reproduction of gray passports for non-citizens.
Previous changes to the legislation were made about 10 years ago. However, as practice has shown, they contained a hidden loophole: children whose non-citizen parent lived in Estonia for less than five years were added to the ranks of gray passport holders. About ten such children were born in the country each year. Now this loophole has been completely eliminated.
"It can be said that we are drawing a line under the era of gray passport holders. There will be people who consciously remain in this status and do not wish to change it, but there will be no continuation of obtaining it by birth," Taro stated.
The minister also addressed children from mixed families, where one parent has a gray passport and the other has a Russian passport. Such children automatically have the right to Russian citizenship, so they do not fall under the new regulation.
"If the parents meet all the requirements, then the child is granted citizenship along with them. And if the child has not been granted Russian citizenship, then no formal exit is needed. We have changed this practice," Taro said.
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