My column last week on the uncertain state of three Saudi women married to foreigners and the undecided status of our citizenship laws elicited two angry and rather forceful responses from readers, both Saudi men.
The first chastised me for being too soft on the Shoura Council. He went on to write that he was “rather disappointed” that I did not address the problems created by delays of issues pending before the council, and neither did I mention how many such issues remain pending while the council was out of session for the holidays.
The public needs more insight into the workings of this council, he added, to allow them to gauge how effective this group is and whether it is indeed responding to the needs of the people.
I had to explain to him that column space limitations often did not provide me the luxury on delving into each point mentioned in the column in detail. Then again, perhaps he did not read my “Unfit for Public Consumption” column of a couple of weeks earlier.
In the second outburst, a Saudi married to a German lady had this to say: “I have been married for 19 years. All my official documents state that I am ‘single’. Yes, single. Although I have a marriage certificate from the High Court in Jeddah, my official status on my ID card, my passport, or my family card continues to remain single.
“My twin boys are of age and have their own ID card. They were then taken off mine. My younger son will be of age this summer and will be processed for his own ID card, and will be thus also be taken off mine. Therefore I shall be left with a family card showing that I have no family at all.
“Do you know how embarrassing it is when you travel with your wife, and yet your passport indicates you are single? Or checking into a hotel and being questioned time and again by inquisitive receptionists about my wife’s status and relationship to me. Or the annoying discrepancy that while my documents clearly state that I am single, her Iqama asserts that she is married.
“With such a dubious status, I worry for her rights as my wife, because I have nothing beyond the marriage certificate legitimizing our union. In the event of something happening to me, just how well protected would she be? Why for heaven’s sakes are we continually subjected to such dense laws?”
I wrote back telling him that once the Eid holidays were over, I hoped the Shoura Council would once again address the issue of citizenship to qualify the expatriates, and marriage of Saudis to foreigners, and revise the laws to address these inconsistencies.Silently, I hold my breath.
