The following information was provided in a 27 February 1996 telephone interview with an official of the Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic in Washington, DC.

A child of Syrian nationals living outside of Syria can be registered at a Syrian consular office if the marriage of the parents is officially registered in Syria and if the father of the child is Syrian. If the father is not Syrian, the child will not be registered as a Syrian national, as citizenship is passed through the father.

The parents must provide the Syrian consular office with their marriage certificate or a copy, thereby proving that the marriage was officially registered. The father must provide proof of Syrian citizenship; any Syrian official document, such as a passport or a national identity card, can be used to provide proof of Syrian citizenship.

In Syria, a child should be registered with the authorities within 30 days of his/her birth. However, for Syrian nationals living abroad, the Syrian authorities are more flexible; there is no age limit by which a child must be registered. The official stated that a child could be registered at 18, for example. The official also stated that the procedure to register a child is the same, despite the child's gender and regardless of the religion of the parents. The child's birth certificate must be presented at the Syrian consular office along with a birth registration form completed by the parents. The official stated that the birth registration form is only written in Arabic. There is no cost to register the child.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic, Washington, DC. 27 February 1996. Telephone interview with an official.