Saudi Arabia grants citizenship to legal, medical and other specialists

Foreign citizens with exceptional talents will be granted visas under the new decree

The kingdom has granted the visas to encourage new talent to move to the country. Bloomberg

Saudi Arabia has approved measures to grant citizenship to exceptional people with talents and skills in various fields.

The royal order, in line with the kingdom's Vision 2030 strategy, is designed to "open the door for naturalisation of legal, medical, scientific, cultural, sports and technical competencies in a way that contributes to promoting the wheel of development and benefits the country in various fields", Spa reported.

Any potential recipients have not yet been publicly announced.

The UAE announced a long-term residence visa in 2019 for entrepreneurs, investors, those with specialist skills and students with promising capabilities in science.

In October, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, directed the authorities to issue golden visas to frontline workers and their families.