By ABID KHAZINDAR | AL-RIYADH

Our country is unique in more ways than one. One distinctive feature is that our country does not allow its citizens to marry other nationalities unless they meet certain conditions and have permission from the Ministry of Interior.

The reason is that many a problem occurs in such marriages.

However, problems are there in all marriages. There exist no marriages without problems.

Even if there are problems — big or small — resulting from marrying other nationalities, the Shoura Council should not spend its time putting rules and regulations on such marriages and imposing fines up to SR100,000.

Instead, the council should search for solutions to the problems that arise in such marriages, especially when Saudi women marry non-Saudis.

Specific problems surface, especially for the husband and their kids, when Saudi women marry non-Saudis. The kids are considered non-Saudi, even though their mother is a Saudi. They need a kafeel (sponsor) and iqama. They face great difficulties in finding jobs. There are instructions to treat them as Saudis when it comes to education, medication and work, but that rule is not applied.

I know that children from foreign husbands in countries around the world get the nationality of the mother.

I hope that the council will give freedom in such marriages, taking into consideration the problems and will introduce a new article that grants Saudi nationality to foreigner husbands of Saudi wives and their kids.

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