Kuwait revokes nationalities of thousands in three weeks

The authorities in Kuwait have intensified actions against individuals who have forged their documents to obtain nationality and violated the country’s laws.

According to a local media outlet, the Nationality Investigations Department of Kuwait submitted a report to the High Committee for Kuwaiti Nationality informing it about the status of residents with dual citizenship.

Minister of Defence and Interior Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Al-Sabah heads the committee which is responsible for examining and reviewing files to uncover forgers and dual nationals. The committee presents its decisions to the Council of Ministers for approval.

Following the report, the Kuwaiti government revoked the nationalities of over 4,200 in cases such as divorcees and widows of citizens who had obtained citizenship according to Article 8.

Additionally, the nationalities of hundreds of people were revoked after they were found to have provided false and misleading information to obtain Kuwait’s citizenship.

The breakdown of the data suggested that the authorities on Thursday revoked the nationalities of 1,647 people at once.

It was the second-largest number of people whose nationalities were revoked at once, after 1,535 nationalities were revoked on November 14.

Read more: Kuwait revises property ownership rules for non-citizens

Kuwaiti citizenships of 930 were revoked on November 7 and 168 nationalities were revoked on November 2.

In total, the nationalities of 4,280 were revoked within three weeks of November.

It is to be noted here that residents, whose citizenships are revoked, cannot obtain several benefits including the withdrawal of government homes or farms allocated to them.

As per the Kuwaiti government, the move to revoke the nationalities of those found forging documents to obtain Kuwait nationality along with dual nationals is aimed at preserving national identity and protecting the national fabric.

The relevant department launched a countrywide crackdown after amending the nationality law in September last year as part of its campaign against forged nationalities.