A recent report of the NSHR addressed the topic. There are four categories of people who do not have citizenship in Saudi Arabia who some argue have legitimate reasons to claim such citizenship: those born in the Kingdom to foreigners; those born to Saudi mothers and foreign fathers; those who have spent most of their lives legally in the country; and those who have been granted citizenship and then had it arbitrarily revoked on the claim that proper procedure was not followed. In the last category, the NSHR claims it has received complaints from people who claim they had their citizenship revoked after being arrested and tortured.

A major problem encountered by those who don’t have citizenship is that their children are not eligible for public education, tuition-free university education, public health care or other social benefits awarded to citizens.

In other cases people have claimed their tribes can verify their citizenship status but the state doesn’t recognize these affirmations. This happens often with so-called “bidoon” (not to be confused with “bedouin”), a term that refers to nomads whose travels overlap national borders, particularity between Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. This category of people also include those who have Saudi tribal links but have only been given temporary legal residence with special five-year visas because they have had no prior contact with the government. Under Saudi law, anyone who can prove affiliation to Saudi tribes should be granted citizenship, but many of these people are still awaiting official government recognition. This occurs with people living in remote areas of the country, typically formerly nomadic bedouin (or their children) who have never been officially registered as citizens by the state.

There are also special visa categories for people from conflict zones who have been granted asylum in Saudi Arabia, such as Burmese Muslims and their children who have been born in Saudi Arabia.

Another category of stateless residents are visa overstayers who have disposed of their identity papers and, in many cases, have been living illegally long enough in the Kingdom to have children who were born here. For this category, the NSHR says there should be greater cooperation with foreign embassies to affirm the identities of these people. This problem is at the root of the issue of how long it takes to deport illegal immigrants and visa overstayers.