Western women married to Saudis have said that the amendments of two articles concerning the granting of Saudi citizenship to children and foreign wives of Saudis puts them at a disadvantage as compared to Arab foreign wives. The new amendments, which were approved in January by the late Prince Naif, state that the applications of foreign wives for Saudi citizenship must be evaluated by a committee of the Directorate of Nationalization at the Interior Ministry’s civil affairs department. The women must have a minimum of 17 points to be awarded Saudi citizenship.
“Among the six new factors mentioned, most of them are in favor of Arab foreign wives rather than Western wives,” said Sandra Miller (not her real name), an American married to a Saudi for 11 years and living in Jeddah.
If one or more of the wife’s relatives have the Saudi nationality she gets two points, if she was born in the Kingdom she gets two points, and if she was a resident in the Kingdom before her marriage she also gets two points. These are all slated against Western wives, Miller added.
“Most Arab women married to Saudis may have lived in the Kingdom before marriage or were even been born here, because their father chose to work here. However, it is very rare that a Western wife would have lived here or was born here, as, quite frankly, we are in the Kingdom because our Saudi husbands brought us here,” Miller explained.
Others say that the factor stating that for each year a foreign wife resides in the Kingdom following the approval of the marriage by the competent authority she gets one point up to a maximum of 12 points is also not fair to foreign wives who have lived in the Kingdom for decades.
“Some foreign wives have been living in the Kingdom for 30 or 40 years and have raised Saudi children, but still do not have the Saudi nationality. The acknowledgement of only 12 years of residence toward nationalization is unacceptable,” Anne B., a British wife of a Saudi living in Riyadh for nearly 15 years, proclaimed.
Others state that, on the other hand, foreign wives who have not been living in the Kingdom for 12 years and who have been waiting for their citizenship applications to be processed are at a disadvantage, because they will not be able to earn the maximum number of points.
“I have been living in Saudi Arabia for seven years and have been waiting for my application for citizenship to be processed for almost three years now. Upon hearing of the new regulations, I knew I had wasted my time in applying and that I would not be able to gain citizenship, because I have not been in the Kingdom long enough to gain the necessary points,” Natalia, a Canadian wife of a Saudi, said, adding that she would just have to hope for the best and if unsuccessful re-apply in the future.
Western wives of Saudis say new citizenship system ‘unfair’
