Identity Integration of Afghan Immigrants in Iran: A Grounded Theory Study

Introduction: Iran has hosted foreign immigrants, mostly Afghans and Iraqis, for the past four decades. The number of Afghan refugees registered by UN Refugee Agency in 2021, shows that among different countries, is second destination after Pakistan. One key aspects immigrants' lives changes context life residence host community identity. Identity an important element process immigrant integration, reflecting sense belonging or alienation from culture society migrant. This paper aims to explore identity integration first- second-generation immigrants Iran. Method: research been conducted within framework a constructivist approach Grounded Theory method. sampling method was purposeful snowball. Semi-structured interviews were with 45 participants cities Yazd Tehran. theoretical coding used analyze date. Findings: Findings indicate eight main categories including fear expression, Iranian identification, concealment, crisis, comparison peers, ethnic identity, peers extracted. By summarizing categories, "identity purgatory" obtained as final core category. Discussion: According results our field study, it can be concluded not intergenerational migrants, but depends mainly on how migrants form their interpersonal interactions at micro, intermediate macro levels. Another challenge they are unable develop social identities way allows them affirm both own well national identities.