Okaz/Saudi Gazette

RIYADH — Eight members of the Shoura Council have mooted a proposal to add a new article to the residency permit (iqama) law to give permanent iqama for children of Saudi women married to foreigners.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from well-informed sources that the proposal seeks issuance of iqama for an unlimited period of time without charging any fee for children of those women whose marriages with foreigners are held with the consent of the authorities and their marriage contracts are notarized.

The sources confirmed that the proposal was presented by members — Latifa Al-Shaalan, Lina Almaeena, Noura Al-Masaad, Alia Al-Dahlawi, Moudhi Al-Khalaf, Huda Al-Halisi, Faisal Al-Fadil and Atta Al-Subaiti. It is based on a number of principles and goals, the most important of which are achieving social justice, strengthening family bonds, and preserving human rights in line with the spirit of articles 8, 9, 10, 11 and 26 of the Basic Law of Governance.

The sources said that the movers of the proposal strive to promote the rights of Saudi women and address the difficulties faced by non-Saudi children to obtain a permanent residency permit.

This proposal is said to be one of the interim solutions for the outstanding issues related to the citizenship law. They noted that the children of Saudi women citizens are under the Sponsorship Law, which ends with the death of the Saudi mother, and that requires the children to find out another sponsor and thus causing numerous psychological and social problems.

This is the third attempt at the Shoura Council to address the situation of children of Saudi women married to foreigners. Two of the eight members, Latifa Al-Shaalan and Atta Al-Subiti, along with some other members of the previous session, moved a proposal to amend the Saudi Citizenship Law in this regard but it was not taken up for discussion by the council. Earlier in 2019, five members made a similar proposal that lacked two votes to secure the minimum vote for approval.