RIYADH, April 24: The government of Saudi Arabia has amended a bylaw to the Naturalization Law as a result of which qualified expatriates can apply for Saudi citizenship from May 23. Application forms will be available at the Civil Affairs Department from next Saturday, the Arab News said on Sunday.

“The new bylaw came into effect on Friday, when it was published in the official gazette,” Nasser Al-Hanaya, undersecretary at the Interior Ministry for civil affairs told the daily.

He said some articles of the existing naturalization law were amended to meet job requirements and realize the interests of the Kingdom and its citizens, and added that professionals like doctors and engineers would be given preference.

However, Dr Ahmed Al-Salim, undersecretary at the Interior Ministry, dashed their hopes. “Many have misunderstood the amended law as they thought it has made the road to Saudi citizenship easy,” the Okaz Arabic daily quoted him as saying. “There’s no major change in conditions and regulations,” he pointed out.

He was echoing a previous statement by Mr Hanaya in which he had said that the amended law did not imply any large-scale handout of Saudi citizenship to non-Saudis.

Mr Hanaya said: “Applicants who have fulfilled the necessary conditions may not get citizenship as the decision to award citizenship depends on the state’s discretion.”

To qualify for citizenship, the applicant should have stayed in the Kingdom continuously for at least 10 years and should be a professional required by the country.

The new law allows the government to withdraw citizenship from a naturalized Saudi within 10 years if he is convicted of any crime related to honour or undermining security.