Name: Nadia
Date of birth: 1 March, 2013
Country of birth: The Netherlands
Nationality: Dutch

Nadia (not her real name) finally has Dutch nationality, but getting it was no easy matter. Her mother Setareh is Iranian and works in the Netherlands as a researcher. She had long wanted to have a child, and with the help of an anonymous donor at a Belgian clinic managed to get pregnant just before her fortieth birthday. Three days after Nadia’s birth, Setareh was informed that her daughter was stateless. Under Iranian law, women are not permitted to pass on their nationality to their children – not even in the Netherlands – and under Dutch law, Nadia couldn’t qualify for citizenship until after three years of legal residency. For her mother, they were three anxious years.