Government moves to end stateless policy for children born in Estonia
Children born in Estonia to stateless parents with a legal right to live in the country will be granted Estonian citizenship in the future, rather than remain without a nationality, under a new law drafted by the coalition.
On Thursday, the government approved legislation to reduce the number of stateless children born in Estonia.
Under the bill, a stateless child born and living in Estonia will receive Estonian citizenship if at least one of the child's parents has lived in Estonia on the basis of a residence permit for at least five years and the other parent is also living in Estonia on a legal basis.
The amendment ends the situation in which a child born in Estonia remains a person with undetermined citizenship, or a so-called gray passport holder, solely because one of the parents has lived in Estonia for less than five years.
Up to 10 children per year are affected by this.
The law is planned to enter into force on January 1, 2027.
Thousands of people live in Estonia without citizenship and are colloquially known as grey passport holders.
They are mostly people who moved to Estonia during the Soviet occupation and then chose to take neither Russian nor Estonian citizenship when Estonia regained its independence in 1991.
Stateless people are unable to vote in Estonian elections, but have freedom of movement within the EU. They can also travel to Russia without applying for visas.
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Editor: Helen Wright
