JEDDAH -- Saudi Arabia is likely to grant citizenship to long-serving expatriate workers having high scientific qualifications and rare expertise under a new law to be passed shortly by the Council of Ministers.
"The revised citizenship law will be passed by the Cabinet shortly after it has been endorsed by the Shoura Council and reviewed by the Interior Ministry and the Cabinet's committee of experts," said Nasser ibn Hamad Al-Hanaya, assistant deputy interior minister for civil affairs.
However, the official did not say when exactly the Cabinet would pass the much-awaited law. The newly revised law has taken into consideration family relations as citizenship will be given to applicants whose father or mother or most brothers are Saudi.
"It has also taken care of the Kingdom's need for people having scientific qualifications and rare specialization," Okaz Arabic daily quoted Al-Hanaya as saying.
The new law gives the interior minister the authority to grant citizenship to the children of naturalized Saudis when they reach adulthood, while giving citizenship to their father, if they fulfill necessary conditions. It also allows authorities to give citizenship to a foreign woman whose Saudi husband has died and has given birth to his children.
On May 9, the Shoura Council passed the relaxed law, which allows foreigners who have been living in the Kingdom for at least 10 years to apply for Saudi citizenship.
Dr. Hamoud Al-Badr, the consultative body's secretary-general, said the Shoura had approved changes to eight of the law's 38 articles.
"Article Nine, which was among those amended, explains the conditions for granting citizenship to a foreigner," the secretary-general said without spelling out the conditions.
According to previous reports, foreigners who have been living in the Kingdom continuously for no less than 10 years can apply for Saudi citizenship.
Applicants must be fluent in written and spoken Arabic and have a profession that is needed in the Kingdom. They must not have served more than six months in jail and must show evidence that they have been earning their livelihood in a legitimate manner.
Muhammad Al-Zalfa, a Shoura Council member, said the amendments to the citizenship law were meant to meet the requirements of a changing society. "The amendments relax naturalization rules for foreign spouses of Saudis while toughening already strict requirements for permanent residents applying for citizenship," he said.
"More Saudi men and women are marrying foreigners now than when the current law came into force some 50 years ago as society opens up to others, and this necessitates flexibility," Al-Zalfa said. "We now have some seven million foreigners living here. We had to make it tougher to acquire citizenship in order to make sure that those who apply for it are loyal to the country and have integrated in Saudi society," Al-Zalfa said.
"Article 16 of the amended law allows the interior minister to grant citizenship to a foreign woman married to a Saudi or a foreign widow of a Saudi," Al-Badr said.
According to Article 17, Saudi women married to foreigners will no longer automatically lose their citizenship. Article 12 explains the requirements for the dependents of naturalized citizens.
The Cabinet could revoke the citizenship of any naturalized Saudi within 10 years on recommendation of the interior minister. Article 21 said citizenship could be revoked if a person is sentenced to more than a year in prison for a crime "related to trust or honor."
The new law stipulates a maximum two-year jail term or a SR30,000 fine for anyone submitting false documents or lying about their citizenship. The Interior Ministry will issue the executive bylaws within 120 days after the publication of the amended law in the official gazette.
P.K. Abdul Ghafour
© Arab News 2004
