DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS B.2. Kuwait B.2.a. General Background About 70% of Kuwait’s population are non-citizens. An article published in June 2020 quotes Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah as calling for the number of expats to be more than halved to 30%.128 The same article states, “The percentage of domestic helpers alone is more than 50% of Kuwaitis, let alone the other residents.” The population of Filipinos in Kuwait is approximately 240,000, and 70% are working in households as domestic workers.129 The Kuwait government initiated amnesty programs in 2018 for undocumented persons, and initiated amnesty programs again this year due to the coronavirus outbreak.130 It is reported that the initiative was in place from 1 to 30 April, permitting undocumented persons to leave the country without paying any fines, allowed those who availed of the amnesty to return later with the right documents, and arranged special outbound flights to fly those persons back to their countries.131 B.2.b. Citizenship Kuwaiti citizenship is conferred primarily on the basis of the jus sanguinis principle from the father, with exceptions for foundlings.132 Women cannot confer nationality on their children, though they may naturalize upon reaching the age of majority on certain conditions as described below. By the provisions of the Kuwait Constitution in Article 27, “Kuwaiti nationality shall be determined by Law.” Citizenship is then prescribed in the Nationality Law of 1959 as subsequently amended.133 This law provides that: 1. Original Kuwaiti nationals are those persons who were settled in Kuwait prior to 1920 and who maintained their normal residence there until the date of the publication of this Law. a. Ancestral residence shall be deemed complementary to the period of residence of descendants. “Kuwait vows to slash expat population from 70 to 30 percent,” Arabian Business, 4 June 2020, available at: https://www. arabianbusiness.com/politics-economics/447747-kuwait-vows-to-slash-expat-population-from-70-to-30-percent. 128 Philippine Statistics Authority, Statistical Tables, TABLE 3 Distribution of Overseas Filipino Workers by Region of Origin and Place of Work Abroad: 2019, 4 June 2020, available at: https://psa.gov.ph/statistics/survey/labor-and-employment/surveyoverseas-filipinos/table. 129 Aarti Nagraj, Amnesty ends in Kuwait, 30,000 undocumented expats avail scheme – report, Gulf Business, 4 May 2020, available at: https://gulfbusiness.com/amnesty-ends-in-kuwait-30000-undocumented-expats-avail-scheme-report/. 130 (Arabic only) The notice was published on the Ministry of Interior Website available at: https://www.moi.gov.kw/main/News/ Index/78963. 131 42 132 Kuwait Nationality Law, 1959, Article 2, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4ef1c.html 133 Nationality Law, 1959, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4ef1c.html. UNHCR / April 2021