Marrying a non-Saudi
In the first case, the Saudi husband gets legal authorization to marry a non-Saudi wife. He gets married, has children, obtains for his wife a Saudi nationality and he lives happily ever after!
In the second case, the Saudi woman seeks her family's approval to marry a non-Saudi husband. She gets married, has children, realizes she can never Saudize her husband and she lives as a ‘kafeel’ ever after!
Recent studies reveal that more than 700,000 Saudi women are married to non-Saudis. In most cases, the husband remains a non-Saudi (in need for a sponsor or kafeel) and the children remain non-Saudi (also, in need for a kafeel). The problem gets bigger as the children get older, i.e. university education, employment, etc. The issue becomes a conflict if the Saudi mother dies. The legal sponsor of her own husband and children has gone! Many of you can imagine the scenario to follow.
• The writer is media manager at King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences.
