The Supreme Committee for Kuwaiti Citizenship Investigation has revoked the nationality of three individuals along with any who acquired it through them, in a decision published by the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm on Sunday. The ruling, signed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah, follows a review process under the citizenship law. This marks another step in the committee’s regular examinations of nationality files that have intensified throughout 2026, with the latest supplement to the gazette detailing the specific case numbers and references for those affected.
Such revocations form part of a wider campaign that saw more than 4,000 citizenships withdrawn in the latter half of 2025 and into 2026, according to cumulative figures from successive gazette publications. In one wave during June 2026, seven separate decrees revoked nationality from 2,192 people and their dependents as detailed in Kuwait Al-Youm. The April round, which included three major decrees, affected 2,182 individuals, highlighting the scale of the ongoing nationality verification drive by the authorities.
A significant legal overhaul accompanied these actions when Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026 amended the foundational 1959 citizenship legislation, replacing 16 articles and repealing several others to clarify the state’s sovereign powers while incorporating humanitarian considerations. The revisions, published in Supplement No. 2 of Issue 1786 of the official gazette, transferred certain competencies from the interior minister to the head of public security and police departments. These changes have provided clearer guidelines for both granting and withdrawing nationality amid evolving national priorities.
To mitigate the impact on those affected, the Ministry of Interior issued Ministerial Decision No. 1410 of 2026 allowing eligible individuals whose citizenship was revoked to obtain residency permits valid for up to 10 years. The decision, also published in Kuwait Al-Youm, enables continued access to employment, education, healthcare and other services provided they regularize their status with an original or alternative nationality. This framework treats residency as distinct from citizenship, offering a pathway for those no longer qualifying as Kuwaitis to remain in the country under regulated terms.
The committee’s latest decision specifies the names and reference numbers of the three primary individuals but does not disclose the underlying reasons for the revocation in the published text. All concerned government bodies have been instructed to implement the ruling within their jurisdictions effective from the publication date. Similar decisions in August stripped nine individuals of citizenship, following the same procedural path through the Supreme Committee.
Kuwait’s citizenship policies trace back to the 1959 Amiri Decree that established the original legal basis for naturalization and related rights. Recent years have seen accelerated reviews to ensure only valid cases retain nationality, with the Supreme Committee playing a central role in these determinations. The combination of legislative updates and administrative decisions reflects a comprehensive approach to managing the national demographic composition.
