DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS According to one article in Reuters, “[a] call for the UAE to consider allowing expatriates to apply for citizenship has sparked a debate about national identity in the Gulf Arab state, where foreigners outnumber the local population by more than five to one.”172 According to an Annual Statistical Yearbook on the population of Abu Dhabi, Emirati citizens represented 19% of the population, while the non-citizen population comprised 81% of the total.173 Similarly, in Dubai, the Statistical Yearbook for 2018 in Chapter One on population and vital statistics reports that only 254,600 persons among the population of 3,192,275 are Emirati citizens (8%) of the total, while 92% are Non-Emirati.174 Naturalization is granted in the UAE under the following conditions in Articles 5-12 of the Nationality Law: • An Arab of Omani, Qatari or Bahraini origin if he resides in the UAE legally and continuously for more than three years immediately preceding his application for citizenship, provided that he has a legal means of living, of good conduct and has not been convicted for a crime that impugns integrity. • The UAE citizenship may be granted to any fully competent person if he has been legally and continuously residing in the Emirates since 1940 or before and has maintained his original residence up to the effective date of law has legal means of living, of good conduct, has not been convicted for a crime that impugns integrity, and is conversant with the Arabic language. • Citizenship of the country may be granted to any person other than those mentioned in article (5) and article (6) if that person is: (a) of full liability; (b) has resided in a continuous and statutory manner in the member Emirates for a period not less than 30 years, of which 20 years at least after this law enters into force; (c) has a legal source of living; (d) of good conduct and has not been convicted for a crime impugns integrity; and (e) knows Arabic language well. • Any person who renders marvelous deeds for the country may be granted citizenship regardless of the period of residence prescribed in the precedent articles. • Nationality by naturalization may not be given to a person unless he renounces his original nationality and nationality is granted only once. Mahmoud Habboush, “Call to naturalise some expats stirs anxiety in the UAE,” Reuters, 10 October 2013, available at: https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-emirates-citizenship-feature/call-to-naturalise-some-expats-stirs-anxiety-in-the-uaeidUKBRE99904J20131010. 172 Abu Dhabi, Statistical Yearbook 2019, available at: Yearbook%20%20Population_2019_Annual_Yearly_en.pdf. 173 https://www.scad.gov.ae/Release%20Documents/Statistical%20 Government of Dubai, Statistical Yearbook 2018, Chapter 1, available at: https://www.dsc.gov.ae/en-us/Publications/Pages/ default.aspx. 174 UNHCR / April 2021 55