Women with revoked citizenship to keep jobs, salaries in Kuwait

Cairo: Women whose Kuwaiti citizenship has been revoked are able to keep their jobs and pay, a senior Kuwaiti official has said.

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said that women, who are wives of Kuwaiti men, divorcees, and widows residing in Kuwait whose citizenship has been withdrawn will keep their jobs and continue to get the same salaries.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

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

A state committee in charge of nationality verification on Thursday decided to withdraw Kuwaiti citizenship from 1,758 more individuals for different reasons. The decision of the panel led by Al Yousef will now go to the Council of Ministers for approval.

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

Kuwait, a country of around 4.9 million people mostly expatriates, has recently launched a clampdown on citizenship fraud and duality to protect national identity.