Frost Comparative Migration Studies (2024) 12:23 implementation, with exclusionary access in law but inclusive access in implementation throughout each policy change. Investment nationality Investors’ access to Jordanian nationality demonstrates how intentional ambiguity can extend, but not formalize, a privileged group’s rights. Although investors can access Jordanian passports in law (and implementation), they do not have a right to Jordanian nationality in law. Instead, investors’ access to nationality stems from implementation regulations issued by senior officials. In July 1999, Jordan adopted new investment nationality regulations five months after King Abdullah II assumed office.23 These implementation measures, entitled “Basic rules and procedures for the award of Jordanian nationality through investment,” enabled Arab investors to obtain Jordanian nationality through three paths, which involved depositing large sums in the Central Bank and/or fostering an investment project that created jobs for Jordanians (CARIM-South Project, n.d.). However, they did not correspond to a change in the nationality law, marking a case of hidden intentional ambiguity. These regulations were updated (but still absent from the law) after a large wave of Iraqi refugees came to Jordan following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. One former minister, familiar with this issue, claimed that “with the Iraqis, for example, there was a clear policy, clear directives, but it…was limited to the Minister of Interior at that time.”24 Likewise, another former minister, well-acquainted with this topic, stated that there was an explicit initiative to give Iraqi investors passports that granted them nationality through the MOI.25 However, the same former minister noted that changes in the cabinet as well as public attention to the issue halted these efforts.26 He observed that “it is hard to give out national numbers in front of the public.”27 Another former minister, recalled that although the “national number had been stopped,” there had been a policy during the Iraq war where investors could get a national number.28 Thus, hidden intentional ambiguity once again characterized nationality-by-investment. The next update to the nationality-by-investment policy occurred in 2018, though again, only through a Cabinet decision and not an amendment to the nationality law. This policy enables individuals to secure Jordanian nationality through one of five ways. These routes are similar to the 1999 options but add schemes to buy treasury bonds or securities or to invest in small- and medium-enterprises (Jordan Times, 2018). The 2018 nationality-by-investment program expanded in 2021 (Jordan Times, 2021). Although the regulations for obtaining nationality by investment have not changed on the Jordan Investment Commission website, there seem to be new regulations based on a Cabinet decision that year. For example, the overall investment required by one route 23 24 25 26 27 Earlier, less formalized nationality-by-investment policies existed, particularly in the 1980s (Brand, 2006). Former minister (OY66), December 2017. Former minister (UA75), November 2017. Ibid. Ibid. National numbers in Jordan connote nationality. Some investors have received Jordanian passports without national numbers, which offer residency in Jordan but not most Jordanian citizen rights. 28 Former minister (SO75), December 2017. Page 11 of 18