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. |