Kuwait revokes citizenship of 3,043 more individuals

Cairo: Kuwait has withdrawn its citizenship from 3,043 people, the latest batch of nationality revocations in the country.

A state committee in charge of nationality verification on Thursday decided to withdraw Kuwaiti citizenship from these individuals for different reasons including fraud.

They include 2,863 people with dual citizenship from 54 countries, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Rai reported.

The decision will now be referred to the Council of Ministers for approval.

The latest group has brought to more than 12,000 the number of citizenship revocation cases since August.

Women whose Kuwaiti citizenship has been revoked are able to keep their jobs and pay, a senior Kuwaiti official said last month.

Fahad Al Yousef, Kuwait’s first deputy prime minister and minister of defence and interior, said that women, who are wives of Kuwaiti men, divorcees, and widows residing in Kuwait whose citizenship has been withdrawn will keep their jobs and continue to get the same salaries.

He added that if those women are retired, they will continue to get their pensions.

Authorities have already stripped thousands of people of Kuwaiti citizenship since early March due to fraud or holding another nationality that is banned under Kuwaiti law.

The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry has set up a hotline to receive reports about holders of dual citizenship, or those who obtained it through forgery.

The ministry has urged members of the public with related information to report it via the hotline for investigations, promising the whistleblowers full secrecy.

In recent weeks, Kuwaiti media reported about several uncovered cases of foreigners, who illegally obtained Kuwaiti citizenship. Some of the unlawful citizens were taken to court and received jailing rulings.