Nationality and Cases of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa member of the State Council for at least ten years after acquiring Jordanian nationality. He shall be eligible for nomination to a municipal or village council or to trade union office only after a period of at least five years has elapsed as from his acquisition of Jordanian nationality”. Egypt has a similar system with different waiting periods: under article 9 of the Egyptian nationality law, a naturalised national cannot “exercise political rights” during the first five years following naturalisation and cannot be elected or appointed to a parliamentary body during the first ten years. However, through explicit waivers, the law places less restrictions on the participation of the newly naturalised in religious institutions and it allows further exemptions to the aforementioned waiting periods to be granted by Presidential Decree in individual cases. Nevertheless, the overall picture in Egypt and around the MENA region is that a successful application for naturalisation, while leading to the enjoyment of nationality, does not immediately bring all of the expected benefits of nationality and there may be a further, sometimes lengthy, wait before the naturalised national can fully participate in public life. 112