In early January, Saudi Arabia announced a royal decree amending Article 8 of the country’s citizenship law, transferring final authority to grant citizenship from the minister of interior to the prime minister, a position currently held by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. While children born to Saudi fathers and expatriate mothers are automatically granted citizenship at birth, Article 8 permits the children of Saudi mothers and expatriate fathers to apply for citizenship. To be eligible, applicants must be over 18, permanently reside in Saudi Arabia, have a clean criminal record, and speak Arabic fluently.

The amendment is notable, but the extent of Mohammed bin Salman’s influence, as prime minister, on the naturalization process and its implications remain unclear. The decree also stipulates that the prime minister’s decision making in such a case is based on a proposal by the minister of interior. Although a bit ambiguous, the language implies that the minister of interior has discretion about which applications are moved to the prime minister for action. Receiving Saudi citizenship is seen as significant by many, especially those who consider the country their permanent residence. The Saudi government provides citizens a wide array of benefits, including an exemption from recently introduced expatriate fees, free health care, and pension benefits (only expatriates fitting specific criteria are granted social insurance pensions). While education from kindergarten through high school is free for Saudi and foreign students alike, Saudi citizens also receive free tuition at most universities and other academic benefits. And while foreigners are encouraged to establish businesses and invest in Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 policy initiatives, supporting the growth of new sectors, the process is smoother for Saudis. When it comes to job opportunities, Saudization policies, aiming to increase the number of nationals in the workforce, often result in preferential hiring decisions.

As of 2018, around 700,000 Saudi women were married to non-Saudi men, accounting for about 10% of married women in the kingdom. This is a significant increase from 2013, when Saudi courts registered only 1,925 marriages of Saudi women to foreigners, 190 of which ended in divorce. This already robust number of Saudi women married to non-Saudi men is expected to continue to rise with the decline of the social stigma against mixed-culture marriages and the high costs of dowry and marriage associated with marriage between Saudi partners. Article 8 only applies to permanent residents of Saudi Arabia. They are categorized as foreigners because of the citizenship status of their fathers.

The citizenship law amendment is also related to Saudi Arabia’s gender reform efforts. In recent years, the kingdom has introduced protections against discrimination in the workforce and made significant progress in expanding women’s labor participation. Article 8 of the nationality law, by permitting children of women married to expatriates to apply for citizenship and be legally considered “Saudi,” makes small progress toward gender equality. Although there continues to be disparate treatment for Saudi women who marry foreign partners: Women still cannot automatically pass down their citizenship like Saudi men can, which many observers believe should be a right granted to all Saudis. The transfer of authority to Mohammed bin Salman provides a data point signaling the further centralization of power within the Saudi government but also the adoption of another gender-related policy by the crown prince viewed generally as favorable to women.

There has been some pushback against the amendment and Article 8 as a whole. Some activists say that the transfer of power from the minister of interior to the prime minister just creates another legal obstacle; instead of facilitating the process, according to this view, it will make it more difficult for women to naturalize their children. Others, on the opposite side of the issue, argue that the country should not be granting citizenship to more people, especially following the recent flurry of reforms aimed at strengthening and diversifying the Saudi economy. There have also been questions about the social significance of the amendment. Proponents of this latter view note that legal status in Saudi Arabia does not guarantee equal social status. While citizenship may eventually lead to social acceptance, those born to Saudi mothers and expatriate fathers might still be considered foreigners in social settings and may not be accepted as “true Saudis” despite their citizenship.

There are also concerns about the efficiency of the application process. Bureaucratic processes are notorious for taking significant lengths of time to complete, and there is no indication that the citizenship process will be any more efficient now that final decision-making authority is in the hands of the crown prince.

The legal efforts of Gulf neighbors help provide some indication about how efficiently the amended Saudi law is likely to be applied and how it stacks up in comparison to similar laws already in force in the Gulf. The United Arab Emirates adopted a similar change in its citizenship law in 2011; and while it is under the jurisdiction of the General Directorate of Naturalization rather than the prime minister, the reform impetus was also evident. Nonetheless, there has been little progress in bureaucratic efficiency and social acceptance. Instead, Emirati women have expressed frustration that the application process is too long and complicated. However, in June 2022, children of Emirati women and expatriate fathers were granted the same health and education benefits as citizens. Foreigners in the UAE interested in acquiring citizenship need to fit certain criteria and be nominated by Emirati royals or officials, according to an amendment approved in February 2021.

Kuwait and Oman also allow children born to citizen mothers and noncitizen fathers to be considered for citizenship. Both countries have strict conditions, however. Kuwaiti and Omani women can only apply for citizenship for these children if the women are divorced, widowed, or have been abandoned by their foreign husband for at least 10 years. Meanwhile, Qatar and Bahrain only grant citizenship to children with one noncitizen parent if he or she is stateless or his or her nationality is unknown. In 2021, members of the Kuwaiti National Assembly drafted a law to allow Kuwaiti mothers to pass down citizenship to their children, but as in other Gulf states, the subject remains highly contested. There is often pushback against any changes to naturalization laws that might allow foreigners to apply for citizenship, a view that in general tends to undercut the ongoing fight for the right of women to pass down citizenship to their children.

If Mohammed bin Salman works to use Article 8 of Saudi Arabia’s citizenship law to open the doors of Saudi nationality to more people, it may help advance gender equality and domestic reform. To be effective, however, the law will need further clarification and development. Meanwhile, observers will be carefully assessing implementation of the law for clues about its impact on the status of Saudi women and the treatment of Saudi women who marry foreigners.