Iraqi and Afghan Immigrants Information Needs: Barriers and Effective Factors in Information Seeking Behaviors of Foreigners in Iran

Contrary to the fact that information must be accessible to all in every society, it is not obtainable for immigrants and refugees. The aim of this study is to find Information needs and the effective factors on information seeking of foreign immigrants in Iran and finding solution and presenting refining Policies.
Mixed research method was applied. Participants selected from 12 provinces (384 immigrants), were all Afghan and Iraqi legal immigrants. Instrument was a researcher made questionnaire which its reliability and validity was tested and approved. Further, to identify most convenient strategies for immigrants information accessibility ten managers and Policy makers were interviewed to find refining policies.
Findings revealed that most important social, cultural, political and health information needs of immigrants needs extended from: Job (4.02), religion (3071), borders, illegal and legal places (3.81), and diseases (4.05). Afghanistan and Iraq’s TV and radio (3.84) and educational institutions (3.85) had most significant role in securing the information needs of immigrants.
Study shows that the major challenges of Afghans and Iraqi immigrant are accessibility to information to solve Information needs. Substantial portions of these challenges might be resolved by suitable Planning and proper legislation. Also, Information providers could help immigrant by supporting humanitarian outlook and overlooking national origins of people.