Kuwait: The council of ministers has recently approved an Amiri decree allowing listed companies in which non-Kuwaitis have shares to own real estate in the country provided the ownership does not include private residence. Under a Kuwaiti law issued in 1979, such companies are banned from owning property in the country and only Arab individuals can own only one house or land based on an Amiri decree.

Foreigners who inherit property from their Kuwaiti mothers must sell it within one year, according to the legislation. Foreign embassies can own a maximum of 4,000 square meters to build their own premises based on reciprocal treatment. Most Gulf countries currently allow foreigners to own houses directly and some states even offer long term residence permits for big buyers. The new draft decree, published in local media, made an amendment to the 1979 law allowing listed shareholding companies, real estate funds and investment portfolios with non-Kuwaiti ownership to buy real estate.

Such companies must be listed on bourses in Kuwait and one of their purposes is trading in property, the new draft decree said. Such companies are not allowed to purchase land used for private housing, it states. Nationals of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states are treated like Kuwaitis in owning property in Kuwait, the decree states.

In another development, Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah on Wednesday chaired a meeting for senior representatives of ministries and government departments to discuss the situation of thousands of people who were stripped of their Kuwaiti citizenship. Over the past 18 months, authorities have revoked the citizenship of around 50,000 people, according to statements made by the interior minister.

A majority of those were foreign women who obtained citizenship through marriage to Kuwaiti husbands and people who rendered great services to the country. Authorities have maintained that they will preserve most of the benefits these two categories had enjoyed when they were Kuwaitis including their jobs except senior positions, salaries and pensions. Authorities have also asked them to start procedures to reclaim citizenship from their original countries as a precondition to keep the benefits. Several thousand other Kuwaitis lost their citizenship for forgery and cheating in addition to having a second citizenship which is banned in Kuwait.