Nearly two dozen children born to Emirati mothers in Ras Al Khaimah have been awarded citizenship, WAM reported on Sunday.
“The move is in line with the decision of President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to grant sons and daughters of Emirati mothers the citizenship,” the official Emirates news agency reported.
Lt General Nasser Al Awadhi Al Minhali, Interior Ministry’s Assistant Under Secretary for Naturalisation and Residency said the 22 citizens represent the first batch of the 930 beneficiaries across the country who met the requirements and reached the age of 18 years.
In February, the UAE said it would grant citizenship to over 1,000 children of Emirati women married to non-Emirati men.
The children will be granted full UAE citizenship once they reach 18 years old, the report added.
The Gulf is home to a disproportionate number of expatriate workers, and until recently no child born to a foreign father was eligible for citizenship in a Gulf country.
The issue of citizenship has been a hot topic in the Gulf. Bahrain expatriates in August called for a review of the country’s citizenship rules in sessions of a national dialogue for reforms in the Gulf kingdom.
Expat workers called on the National Dialogue, a state-appointed body tasked with airing political grievances in the wake of widespread political protests that rocked the Gulf state earlier this year, to review rules relating to citizenship, suggesting the children of longtime residents should receive residency automatically after the age of 18.
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