Expatriates of all nationalities are entitled to apply for Saudi citizenship and their travels abroad with re-entry visas will not disqualify them, press reports said yesterday quoting senior officials.
Unless, of course...
Nasser ibn Hamad Al-Hanaya, undersecretary for civil status at the Interior Ministry, said the executive bylaw for the Kingdom's amended naturalization law would be ready within four months. "We will look into applications only after the executive bylaw is issued," Okaz Arabic daily quoted Hanaya as saying.
We will take our bloody time, too... we don't have enough Indian clerks as it is, sheesh! So much to read and write and stuff, so few expats to do it! More tea?
He estimated that more than a million expatriates would benefit by the amended law, which was passed by the Council of Ministers on Monday. There are nearly 8.8 million expatriates, mostly Asians and Arabs, in the Kingdom.
So about 1 out of 8 will likely qualify. Hmmm, I wonder if he'll apply?
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