Manama: A bill to grant the Saudi citizenship to children born to Saudi mothers and foreign fathers has passed the security committee at the Shura Council and should be debated by the Shura members soon.

“We have completed its study and we believe that it will be on the agenda of the Shura Council within the next few months,” Shura Member and Vice President of the committee Ata Al Sabti said, Saudi daily Okaz reported on Sunday.

The bill was submitted to the Council last year and the security committee took it up in October for further studies ahead of referring it to the Shura members for debate.

The proposal calls for using a point system to grant the citizenship to those with Saudi mothers and non-Saudi fathers.

Under the proposal, the applicant gets one point if he lived permanently in Saudi Arabia until the age of 18. The applicant also gets one point if he has a high school diploma.

If the mother’s father and grandfather are Saudi nationals, the applicant gets six points. However, if only the father was Saudi, the applicant gets two points.

If the applicant has one or more siblings, he is given two points

If the applicant has a total of at least seven points, the committee recommends a study of his case. However, if he fails to reach the required score, his application is rejected and he is informed about the decision.

With thousands of Saudi women married to foreigners and unable to pass on their citizenship to their children, the bill would be a major breakthrough in ensuring better family stability.

Mohammad Saeed, born to a Saudi mother and a Yemeni father, said that the whole family was looking forward to the bill being endorsed by the Shura Council.

“The Saudi government has taken several steps to help those born to non-Saudi fathers, including extending to them the privileges afforded to Saudi citizens in the labour, education and health sectors,” Mohammad, an engineering undergraduate, told the daily. “However, granting them the citizenship would be highly significant for family stability.”

In 2013, and in a major breakthrough for women, Saudi mothers were allowed to pass on citizenship rights to their children that included being treated as Saudi citizens in education and medical care. Women were allowed to sponsor their children and their husbands who could take up jobs in the private sector.

Omar Ahmad, whose mother is Saudi and father Ethiopian, said that he was optimistic the Shura would endorse the citizenship proposal.

“The woes started after we graduated from high school and we started looking for work,” Omar, 47, said, referring to his three brothers. “It was very challenging because of the new restrictions on non-Saudis. We pray for a positive decision from the Shura that would help us, especially that Saudi Arabia is the only country we have.”

Omar added that he hoped his sons and nephews would not go through the difficult times that he and his brothers experienced.

The Shura Council has 150 members, including 30 women.