Kuwait moves to tighten citizenship law amid mass revocation drive
Kuwait’s cabinet has approved a draft bill amending the country’s long standing nationality law, forwarding it to Emir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah for final approval. The decision was taken at the cabinet’s weekly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah at Bayan Palace.
The move comes against the backdrop of an intensified government crackdown on what authorities call forged or illegitimate nationalities. In recent years, Kuwait has revoked the citizenship of at least fifty thousand individuals, with further revocations issued in recent decrees targeting dual citizenship holders and others deemed in violation of nationality rules.
State media, including the Kuwait News Agency, reported that the amendments aim to modernise the legal framework governing nationality. Officials say the changes seek to strike a balance between protecting what they describe as Kuwait’s “national fabric,” upholding humanitarian considerations, and reinforcing the state’s sovereign authority to grant or revoke citizenship under clearer legal controls. Kuwait’s citizenship framework, rooted in the Nationality Law of 1959, is already among the most restrictive in the Gulf. The country also hosts over a hundred thousand stateless residents known as Bidun, who face limited access to education, healthcare and employment.
