Kuwait’s Nationality Investigation Department concluded an inquiry that exposed a false family connection in a citizenship file, prompting the Supreme Committee for Kuwaiti Citizenship Investigation to strip 59 individuals of their Kuwaiti nationality. The case centered on a man born in 1954 who had been registered as one of 28 children belonging to a citizen with four wives. Only 13 of those children were verified as biological offspring of the file holder, according to the department’s findings released on August 6, 2026.
Investigators became suspicious when the deceased man’s name did not appear among the heirs in family records, unlike his purported siblings. Gulf identification documents linked to the man were presented, and one of his sons authenticated them as belonging to his father. Subsequent DNA testing compared genetic samples from the deceased’s children against those of the alleged paternal uncles, revealing no biological relation, the department reported.
The supposed brothers of the deceased also provided statements during questioning that confirmed he was not their sibling, aligning with the genetic results. An additional red flag emerged from 1993, when seven of the man’s 14 children were registered via court order while they were residing outside Kuwait. The Nationality Investigation Department cited this episode as grounds for deeper examination of the individual’s background and residency history at the time.
The Supreme Committee’s revocation decision encompassed the deceased man, his 14 sons and daughters, as well as associated wives and grandchildren who had derived citizenship through the link. With this resolution the department has now cleared the lineage status for 14 of the 28 children originally tied to the file, validating 13 and invalidating one. Probes into the remaining children continue as part of ongoing citizenship verification efforts, officials indicated.
This latest action forms part of a sustained campaign by Kuwaiti authorities to scrutinize citizenship claims. A Carnegie Endowment for International Peace assessment found that Kuwait has revoked the citizenship of as many as 200,000 people since early 2024. The scale of these measures has drawn international attention amid reviews of historical family files and dependency claims.
The Nationality Investigation Department emphasized that multiple forms of evidence supported its conclusions in the case. These included physical documents, witness testimonies from supposed siblings, exclusion from inheritance records and scientific DNA testing. All lines of inquiry aligned to disprove the parentage claim, the department reported.
