Frequently Asked Questions – Simaet Bhatha

You will find here the most Frequently Asked Questions for our team on social networking sites

- Who are you?

We are a team working in the humanitarian field, independent and not affiliated with any party. We provide information about rights, legal procedures, and basic and humanitarian services in Iraq. You can contact us on our Facebook page, Instagram, or WhatsApp 07518005244.

- What services do you provide?

We have a services map with a group of humanitarian organizations working in most of the Iraqi governorates. You can find the contact numbers and the website for the services provided on our website.
We have a set of articles whose topics are about legal procedures in Iraqi government departments, human rights, and health.
You can also contact us if you want to inquire about information and legal procedures (for a specific Iraqi document, for example) or any legal procedure on the Facebook and Instagram page and via WhatsApp 07518005244
We provide general information and do not provide legal counselling.

- Are you a governmental agency?

No, we are a team that works in the humanitarian field, independent and not affiliated with any party, providing information about human rights, legal procedures, and basic services in Iraq. You can contact us on our Facebook page, Instagram, or contact us on WhatsApp 07518005244.

Do you provide a financial aid?

No, we provide information about rights, legal procedures, and basic services in Iraq. You can contact us on our Facebook page, Instagram or by calling us on WhatsApp 07518005244.

What are the procedures for obtaining a unified national card?

The procedures are as follows:

You must make a reservation on the website of the Directorate of Unified Card Affairs. You will be given an appointment to visit the department. You must attend on the same specified day. If you do not attend on the specified date, you can register again and set another visit date. The scheduled date will often be within three months from the date of registration.
Filling out the application form electronically correctly, writing all the personal information that is required to be mentioned, and your active phone number (please keep a copy of the electronic application and take it with you when you visit the department).
Go to the department on the day of the appointed date to complete the procedures for issuing the national card. You will have to wait in a queue with other applicants who have a reservation on the same date.
Then, you will get the station number (room) to go to. The employee in charge will enter your data, verify it, sign, and stamp the electronic reservation sheet.
You will be transferred by the previous employee to another employee to take fingerprints and personal photo that will be placed on the national unified card.
Pay the fees (5,000 Iraqi Dinars per person) in the accounting department and receive the receipt from the competent employee.
Wait to determine the date of receiving the national card by the Directorate, where you will be provided with a letter explaining the details of the process (date of submission, card details, date of receipt).
Pay a visit to the department on the specified date and go to the department of receiving the national card to see if your card is issued or not, yet.

Also, you can find more details about the national unified card in our article by clicking here.

- How can I apply for the Social Welfare Subsidy?

The required procedures if you want to apply for a Social Welfare subsidy:

When the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs announces through its official website (click here) that the application form will be opened to apply to the social welfare subsidy, which includes persons with disabilities. You will need to fill out the form with personal information, and then get a registration number. (Write it down and keep it, you will need it later).

Note: The submission is currently suspended, and the electronic submission will work again if it is activated by the official website of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

If you find your name on the list published by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs via their website, you will need to visit the Social Welfare Department in your governorate, and take the following documents with you:

Civil Status Card or Unified National Card (original and copy)
Iraqi Nationality Certificate (original and photocopy)
Ration Card (ration card) (original and copy)
Residence Card (original and photocopy)
2 personal photos
A copy of the civil registry from the Civil Status Department in your governorate

A letter of endorsement from the mayor's office (to support eligibility for a welfare pension, which certifies that you are not a government employee and a person with a disability).
The competent employee of the Social Welfare Department checks the form and documents you submitted, then refers you to the designated medical committees in the health centers near your place of residence, to determine the percentage of disability.
Once you get the medical report that shows the type and percentage of disability, you will need to submit the medical report to the Social Welfare Department again, where the employee sends an official letter to the Retirement Department confirming that you are not employed in government departments and do not receive any salary from the government.
You will need to provide a written undertaking, confirming that you have no source of income, not a private sector employee, and not receiving a salary or pension.
The employee of the Social Welfare Department will inform you to visit them again after at least two months, or they may call you later to visit your home by the field teams of the Committee for the Care of People with Disabilities, to verify the information mentioned in the form, assess the standard of living, and confirm eligibility for assistance.
After the field visit, you will receive a letter of approval and a referral to the retirement department in your governorate, where a MasterCard or Key Card (the card through which you will receive the amount of the social welfare salary) is issued.

You will receive a cumulative amount that includes the accumulated pension amount starting from the date of approval from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

These procedures are free of charge, except for the costs of personal photos and photocopying of personal documents. For more information on applying for social welfare benefit, read an article on social protection by clicking here.

- How can I ratify an marriage contract outside of the court?

The procedures for ratifying marriage contracts outside the courts are as follows:

File a ratification lawsuit at the Personal Status Court.
Referral of the husband and wife and their documents to the Investigation Court. Only the husband is presented as a perpetrator, while the wife is presented as a witness. Then both are referred to the Misdemeanors Court if the date of the marriage is after the Amnesty Law issued on January 1, 2008.
The Misdemeanor Court will decide a fine of 50,000 Iraqi Dinars and refer the husband and wife to the Personal Status Court to ratify the external marriage contract or issue a new one.
The legal fees for approving the marriage contract range between 1,000 Iraqi Dinars and 5,000 Iraqi Dinars as stamp fees.

Also, You can learn more details and information about out-of-court marriage contracts and their ratification in our article by clicking here.

- How can I calculate my retirement service and pension?

:To calculate the retirement pension, you should use the following formula

Retirement Law for 2019

For more information about retirement rights and their details, read the article related to this topic by clicking here. For more clarification, you can watch the following video of a citizen explaining how to calculate the pension.

- I would like to retire before I reach the age of 60, is that possible?

Yes, it can be, but under specific conditions according to the amended unified Iraqi retirement law:

First: If the person is (50) years old or more or has completed (25) years in service.

Second: For female employees, a married, widowed, or divorced woman with custody of her children may request retirement before the age of 60, if she fulfills one or more of the following conditions:

worked for 15 years in the same job.
She has three or more children under the age of 15.
The reason for her retirement is to take care of her children.

Third: The referral of employees of companies and self-financing departments that lose financially (when their income does not allow for financial independence) for 3 consecutive years, to retire if their service period is 15 years at least, regardless to their age.

Fourth: The employee can be set to retirement, regardless of the period of service, if they suffer during the service from a disease that requires treatment for a long period or from an incurable disease and the medical committee has decided that they are not able to work permanently. The retirement service of the employee in this case is calculated as 15 years, even if the actual service is less than that. These employees are exempted from paying pension contributions for the added period, and their pension salary is paid regardless of their age. The employee, department or ministry can object to the decision of the medical committee before the medical appeal committee within 30 days from the date of the notification.

You can find out more details about retirement in Iraq through our article by clicking here.

- Can I report cases of electronic extortion “blackmail”? How is that?

Yes, you can report cases of electronic extortion through one of the following methods:

The Iraqi Ministry of Interior has appointed two agencies for this purpose, namely the National Security Agency and the Cybercrime Department of the Forensic Investigations Directorate. To report any cybercrime in Iraq, call the government's 24-hour hotline at 131 or 533.
The police, in addition to the hotline, where victims of extortion or cyber threats can file a complaint at the nearest police station. Details and evidence of extortion or threat must be provided as evidence. Intimate images do not have to be fully submitted.
The judge refers the complaint to the investigating officer of the relevant police station for a legal investigation. For people who feel unsafe when filing a complaint in court, hotlines are safer, more accessible and may provide an immediate solution.
It can be difficult to prosecute cybercrimes, especially when the crime is committed abroad. However, it is worth reporting if you feel safe and feel that you or someone you know is in immediate danger, contact the police.

Also, You can find out more details on how to avoid being a victim of extortion and other tips on our website by clicking here.

- We were unable to issue a birth certificate for our child when he/she was born. Can we get it now?

Procedures and documents required to obtain a birth proof are as follows:

One of the parents must visit to the Directorate of Civil Status to obtain an official letter to request a birth proof, in which the name of the child (or children if they are more than one) who are not registered in the parents’ civil registry is mentioned.
Then he/she goes to the Personal Status Court, where the application form for obtaining a birth proof is filled out.
The form must be attached with the following documents:

The civil status identities of the father and mother, or the unified national cards. (Original and copied).
A copy of the marriage contract certified by the court.
2 witnesses.
The residence card or the parents' residence letter certified by the mayor’s office or governorate council.

Then, the Personal Status Court sends an official letter to the Civil Status Department to provide the parent with a copy of the civil status registry.
The Personal Status Court shall provide the parent with an official letter containing the referral of the birth certificate request to the hospital or the office of births and deaths, to ensure that the child is not registered with them, and that the age of the child does not conflict with the date of marriage and the ages of the rest of the children (if any).
After receiving the answer from the Department of Births and Deaths, the judge records the statements of the applicant (one of the parents) and witnesses, and then refers the child to the competent medical committee to assess the child’s age after placing a seal on his hand by the court.
Then, the birth proof requester pays the legal fee of 6,000 Iraqi Dinars, in addition to the fees for photocopies of the documents, which are estimated at 3,000 Iraqi Dinars.
After a period of time estimated at 15 to 20 days, the parents receive an official letter that includes the child’s age, where they must deliver this official letter to the Personal Status Court along with all the above-mentioned documents attached to the family’s civil status registry* (the family’s civil registry file).

Each family head/wife can obtain the family's civil registry file from their Civil Status Department.

The birth proof will be issued within two days of the delivery of the documents, after the judge signs them.
After obtaining the birth proof, parents must visit the health department in the area of residence to register the birth.
In return, the Health Department sends the complete documents to the office of deaths and births in the place of residence, and then sends these documents to the Directorate of Civil Status of the parents for the purpose of registering them in the family’s civil registry (this process takes about two months).

Note: If the child is 15 years old or above, he/she must appear in person at the Civil Status Court and acknowledge his parentage and age.

For more information about the birth argument, you can read this article by clicking here.

- I have a missing person since years and I need to get a death certificate for him, how can I do that?

To request a death certificate, you must follow these steps:

After four years (two years in the event of his loss because of ISIS activity, according to the decision of the Court of Cassation), a family member of the missing person has the right to apply for a death certificate for the missing person with the Personal Status Court, in accordance with the Iraqi Personal Status Law.
Submit a death certificate request for a missing person.
Submit supporting documents that prove the person is missing.
Bring two male witnesses or one male witness and two female witnesses, to support the claim that the person is missing.
The court may decide the death of the missing person in one of the following cases:

If there is conclusive evidence of his/her death.
If four years have passed since the announcement of his/her loss.
If he/she is missing in circumstances that lead to his/her presumed death, and two years have passed since the loss was declared (as happened during the ISIS crisis).

If the court finds sufficient evidence to determine the death of the missing person, the day of judgment shall be the date of the death of the missing person, in accordance with the Article (95) of the Law on the Welfare of Minors.

You can find more information in our article on the missing person by clicking here.

- How can I get legal counselling?

As for legal counselling please contact one of the International Rescue Committee lawyers' hotlines in the following governorates:

Anbar / 07727813044

Kirkuk / 07722366077

Salah al-Din / 07709947430

Nineveh / 07517408466

- I am a refugee in Iraq, and I would like to apply for a resettlement. Can you help me with that?

You can learn more information and details on refugees in Iraq and the procedures they need through our article by clicking here.

If you have any further questions or need more information you couldn't find in the article, you can directly contact the Simaet Bhatha team from Sunday to Thursday, 9:00am to 4:00pm, through the following platforms:

you can also look for humanitarian services in your governorate through the Service Mapping, you can also find the frequently asked questions by our audience here

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