Zeineb Alsabeehg Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963. Until the end of 2020, five amendments had been made to the act. These were enacted in 1963, 1981, 1989, 2014 and 2019. All amendments have been made during times in which Bahrain either did not have a legislative assembly or – as has been the case since 2011 – has had an assembly that almost lacks a political opposition. Consequently, the amendments have been put into force by the government and the king without prior political debates. The major changes to the Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963 with regards to modes of acquisition of citizenship and loss of it, respectively, are examined below. 2.3.1 Amendments regarding Acquisition of Citizenship The first amendment of the Bahraini Citizenship Act came just one month after it was put into force. On 12 October 1963, the Al-Khalifa ruler clarified the article in the law that states acquisition of citizenship by virtue of former law, i.e. the 1937 citizenship law. A person was to be regarded as a Bahraini citizen “If he has obtained a valid or renewed passport of Bahrain since 1959, or Bahraini citizenship or final judicial decision [about Bahraini citizenship],” as the added phrase stated.8 The validity of the amendment was from the validity date of the original act, as pointed out in the amendment. The authorities wanted to stress the need of documentation for being a Bahraini citizen by virtue of the 1937 law, by requiring identification such as a passport. However, many Bahrainis had not obtained passports, because passports were predominantly used to travel outside Bahrain, and few travelled prior to 1959. This could potentially have led to situations of denial of Bahraini citizenship after the 1963 law was put into force, and to people becoming stateless. Still, many persons without passports who were born in Bahrain between 1937 and 1963, managed to get Bahraini citizenship and documentation on that after applying to the Bahraini government as late as in the 1970s. Two Bahraini citizens had to sign the application as witnesses.9 The amendment that has restricted the right to acquire Bahraini citizenship perhaps the most, is the change to article 4 (b) in 1989. Article 4 (b) is about Bahraini mother’s right to transfer citizenship to own children. Female citizens have this right on rare situations, and the right was further restricted when the following phrase was removed: “or the father has no citizenship”.10 Thus, before 1989, a person whose mother is Bahraini and father is stateless, could acquire Bahraini citizenship. This certainly could have been a safeguard to prevent children being born stateless when they have mothers who are Bahraini citizens. Another change that was in the 1989 amendment, that also represented a setback against preventing statelessness in Bahrain, is ending acquisition after birth in the country to third generation children. When the Bahraini Citizenship Act entered into force in 1963, it stated that a person shall be regarded Bahraini by birth if born in Bahrain and the person’s father was also born in Bahrain and has made Bahrain his permanent residence, at the time of birth of that person, provided, however, that this person is not holding another citizenship. In 1989, this provision was removed.11 Today, persons can live as third generation in Bahrain and have father who is stateless, and end up as stateless themselves even though they are born in Bahrain – and even if their mother happen to be a Bahraini citizen. A potential way of preventing ending up 8 Amendment of 12 October 1963 (Issue No 11 / 1963), Art. 3, of the Bahraini Citizenship Act 1963. English language translation of the 1963 Act and the amendments up to 1989 is available via: https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/3fb9f34f4.pdf 9 Yacoob Seyadi, ‘‫ وﺗﻌﺪﯾﻼﺗﮫ‬1963 ‫[ رأي ﻓﻲ ﺑﻌﺾ ﻣﻮاد ﻗﺎﻧﻮن اﻟﺠﻨﺴﯿﺔ اﻟﺒﺤﺮﯾﻨﯿﺔ ﻟﻌﺎم‬Opinion on some articles of the Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963 and its amendments]’, Al-Wasat, 2 September 2014, http://www.alwasatnews.com/news/917323.html (accessed 2 January 2021). 10 Decree Law No (12) of 1989 Amending Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963. 11 Decree Law No (12) of 1989 Amending Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963. 4 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2021/6- © 2021 Author(s)