Tens of thousands of individuals born in the Dominican Republic to undocumented immigrant parents may be at risk of expulsion. Those who did not register for residence prior to the Feb. 1 deadline could be forced to leave the island country.

Amnesty International reported the Dominican Republic instated Law 169/14, which targets those of Haitian descent in the country, in May 2014. It requires individuals born to undocumented foreign parents, whose birth was never declared in the Dominican Republic, to register to obtain a residence permit. This permit would then be needed later to claim citizenship in the country.

The deadline to register was on Sunday and has not been extended by the government. Those who have not registered in the system may have lost the opportunity to receive Dominican nationality as many of those eligible to register did not do so in time for the deadline.

The Minister of the Interior said by Jan. 9, 5,345 people had applied for residency under Law 169/14. This number represents less than 5 percent of the estimated 110,000 people eligible to do so. 

This law was introduced after widespread criticism of the constitutional court's previous decision to prevent thousands of foreign descent their ability to receive Dominican nationality. This move left thousands stateless.

Law 169/14 forces those previously determined as stateless to register as foreigners and re-apply for Dominican citizenship. The law puts people in two categories: those who were registered in the Dominican civil registry at some point and those whose birth was never declared in the country.

In October 2014, Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the law violated the American Convention on Human Rights. Dominican officials rejected the findings, have refused to comply and say no one has been deemed stateless by the government.

However, those who should have been able to receive citizenship after registering in the Dominican civil registry have been denied identity documents for many years.

Juan Alberto Antuan Vill is of Haitian descent and was born in the Dominican Republic. He told Amnesty International he's been denied his documents despite registering for citizenship.

"We are extremely worried because the authorities continue to deny the existence of statelessness, but it's our reality," HE SAID. "We don't trust the whole process because of the people leading it. Discrimination exists in this country, I can't work and I can't access vital services." 

Dominican laws like Law 169/14 tends to target the large population of Haitian immigrants in the country. Hundreds of thousands of descendants of Haitian migrants live in the Dominican Republic. Many of their families came to the country since the 1940s through the agreements between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which has aimed to relocate cheap labor to work in sugar cane plantations. 

Previously, the Dominican government formally recognized children of Haitian migrants born in the country as citizens. They issued Dominican birth certificates, identity cards and passports, despite their parents' migrant status.

The country removed birthright citizenship in 2004. The reform was a part of a new constitution developed in 2010. A court ruling in 2013 applied the new standard retroactively.