The Legal Status of the Foreigner

Abstract

Foreigners did not enjoy the legal status in the old societies where they were deprived of any right, but the legal status of the foreigners witnessed a great development in the modern era due to increased movement of foreigners between countries, the expansion of international trade activity, and the mix of civilizations. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, declared a number of rights, including that everyone has the right to freedom of movement, freedom of thought, freedom of belief, freedom of opinion and equality before the law. In 1985, the Declaration of Human Rights addressed the case of individuals who are not citizens of the state in which they live. The Iraqi legislator organized the issue of the presence of foreigners in Iraq starting from their entry, stay until their exit from the country and issued Law No. 76 of 2017 currently in force. The provisions of this law shall include the provisions relating to the entry of foreigners and the conditions they must abide by at entry. This study deals with the legal status of foreigners under the Foreign Residence Law No. (76) of 2017 in terms of definition of foreigners, distinguish of foreigners from other terms, historical development of the foreign status, recognition of foreigners as legal persons and the statement of categories of foreigners in domestic law.