09 July 2011
According to an article at Arab News, the Kuwaiti government has suspended thousands of citizenship applications. These applications for citizenship, made by foreign women who have married Kuwaiti men, appear to be causing problems. Kuwait is rushing to fill in some legal loopholes they seem to be slipping through. According to the article, the final legislation is being complicated by the Kuwaiti Fatwa and Legislation department.
Here are some brief excerpts from the article:
About 3,000 citizenship applications of expatriate women who are married
to Kuwaitis have been suspended since 2007 for the Interior Ministry to
adopt an alternative proposal to grant the Kuwaiti citizenship according
to Article 8 of Citizenship Law and file loopholes in the current law…
Sources revealed two proposals in this domain. First of all, the wives of
Kuwaiti citizens will be treated as Kuwaiti women. However, this proposal
has been rejected by the Fatwa and Legislation Department, seeing the
proposal includes many loopholes that contradict the Kuwaiti Constitution…
According to the proposal, foreigners who are married to Kuwaiti men will
be granted the citizenship and passport. However, the citizenship will be
withdrawn in line with an Interior Ministry decision if the woman is
involved in any case of dishonor and dishonesty…
…wives holding this category of citizenship will not be allowed to sponsor
another husband, in case of divorce, or hold commercial licenses. They will
neither be allowed to bring in visitors through commercial or work visas.
Sources indicated that the prerogatives will be restricted to gaining
assistance as a Kuwaiti citizen, obtaining the Kuwaiti passport, education and work.
Links to more articles, on this story, can be found below.
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Arab News
