Saudi Arabia Publishes 6 Conditions for Foreigners to Get Citizenship by Marriage
- Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister holds the power to grant nationality to foreigner married to Saudi under Article 16 of the nationality law
- Applicants must meet several strict conditions, including giving up their original nationality and living inside the Kingdom
- The law also allows the minister to revoke the granted citizenship if the marriage ends under certain circumstances
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Saudi Arabia has set out the conditions a non-Saudi person must satisfy before the Minister of Interior can grant her Saudi nationality on the basis of marriage to a Saudi.
The requirements are drawn from Article 16 of the Saudi nationality law, which gives the minister the discretionary authority to approve or deny such applications.
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Conditions for citizenship under Article 16
To be eligible, the marriage must be legally valid and still in force at the time of application. The woman must also renounce her original nationality before a judge or a notary, this step is mandatory, not optional, and must be completed before citizenship is granted.
The marriage itself must have been conducted in line with the regulations that govern unions between Saudi nationals and foreigners. Applicants are also required to submit a declaration and report confirming they have no criminal record and no offences related to public morals.
There must be no adverse observations from the relevant authorities, and the applicant must be residing inside the Kingdom.
On the question of duration, the marriage must have lasted a minimum of five years. However, applicants who fall short of this threshold may still be considered in defined circumstances, including where the couple has been married for four years without children and certain additional conditions are met.
When citizenship can be revoked
Article 16 does not only address how citizenship is granted, it also sets out the basis on which it can be taken away. The minister may revoke the woman's Saudi nationality if the marriage ends for any reason and she subsequently reacquires her original nationality or takes up another foreign nationality.
The provision places the entire process, both the grant and the revocation, within the minister's authority, reflecting the discretionary nature of nationality decisions in the Kingdom.
5 legal paths to become citizens in Saudi Arabia
Legit.ng earlier reported that Saudi Arabia grants citizenship through five distinct legal routes under its national Citizenship System. Each path carries specific eligibility conditions, waiting periods, and requirements around language proficiency and renunciation of a previous nationality.
Source: Legit.ng
