Expat’s dream? United Arab Emirates offers path to citizenship for select foreigners
- Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed says offer could apply to artists, authors, doctors, engineers and scientists, as well as their families
- Hereditary rulers in country’s seven emirates, which include Dubai and Abu Dhabi, will be able to nominate those they feel are worthy of citizenship
The UAE, home to the glittering Dubai and Abu Dhabi, previously gave citizenship to Palestinians and others who helped form the country’s government after its formation in 1971. Others have received it over time as well.
Saturday’s announcement by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai who also serves as the autocratic nation’s prime minister and vice-president, said the offer could apply to artists, authors, doctors, engineers and scientists, as well as their families.
Sheikh Mohammed wrote on Twitter that hereditary rulers in the country’s seven emirates and at the federal level would nominate those for citizenship. Those granted citizenship to the UAE would be able to keep their existing citizenships from their home countries.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the citizenship also would grant rights to the UAE’s cradle-to-grave social programmes for its nationals.
The UAE is home to over 9 million people, only a tenth of them citizens. In November, the UAE announced plans to overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening alcohol restrictions and criminalising so-called “honour killings”.