Foreigners married to Saudi nationals and working in government departments will be exempted from Saudization laws. The government will not terminate their contracts to replace them with Saudis, the Ministry of Civil Service has confirmed in response to a Ministry of Labor's clarification demand, sources said Monday. The law applies to both foreign men married to Saudi women and foreign wives of Saudi men. The ministry said the exemption will apply only if the marriage was valid. Children of Saudis married to foreign nationals shall be treated in the same category. They too will not be replaced by Saudi nationals. The foreign wife who has not been added to her Saudi husband's ID shall also be exempted from the Saudization regulation. In June this year, the Kingdom approved a law regulating marriage between its citizens and foreigners. The law allowed Saudis to have foreign spouses but stipulated that they need prior approval by a new government committee which could take up to three months to decide whether to agree or reject the request. A Saudi man or woman seeking to marry from outside the Kingdom or the GCC must submit an application to a government committee to be created shortly by the ministries of interior, foreign affairs, justice and social affairs. The committee also comprises representatives from the Saudi Human Rights Commission. According to an annual report of the Ministry of Justice, 1,944 foreigners married Saudi women in 2008. According to a Shoura member, around 700,000 Saudi women are married to foreigners.
