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Local News
Marriage committee eases matrimony with foreigners
Published Date: July 08, 2010
By Nawara Fattahova, Staff Writer
KUWAIT: Marrying a foreigner in Kuwait is a complicated procedure that involves many steps. Any Kuwaiti married to a foreigner, seeking a valid marriage certificate, should receive an approval from several different authorities. Should the foreigner be residing abroad, the procedure becomes even more complicated. In that case, the approval should be given by the ministries of Interior, Justice, Social Affairs and Labor, and Foreign Affairs. However, these steps apply to ordinary civil cases. If a Kuwaiti is an employee with the Ministry of Defense or the Ministry of Interior, his marriage to a foreigner most probably will not be legally sanctioned, a source from the Marriage Council Bureau in Kuwait said.
Rarely do Kuwaiti women marry a non-Kuwaiti, even though there have been few cases. The number of Kuwaiti men who have foreign spouses is much higher. Overall, statistics show that Kuwaitis prefer marrying their compatriots. Also, the government encourages marriages between Kuwaitis by granting every Kuwaiti man marriage loans of KD 4,000.
In the 1980s, the number of Kuwaitis married to foreign women had increased and many problems had arisen, especially with marriages registered abroad (especially in Egypt and Syria). Many men left their wives in their native countries. They could not or did not want to bring them to Kuwait. Some of those who entered into such wedlock were students while others were tourists.
Many of these problems affected Kuwait's reputation. The government found a solution to eliminate these problems by setting up a committee for Organizing Marriage between Kuwaitis and Foreigners. This operates under the umbrella of the Council of Ministers, "The main purpose of this committee is to help Kuwaitis organize their marriage procedure with a non-Kuwaiti," said Sami Al-Rubaian, First Secretary, Head of Authentication and Centers at the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Kuwait Times.
Each of the committee's centers receive a large number of applications. For instance, the Shuwaikh branch received 794 authentication applications within one week. "The Kuwaiti government has no objection to a Kuwaiti marrying a foreigner. However, this should be done in accordance with certain rules. It's not only about two people getting married. This couple will build a family, and this is part of the society," he added.
He further explained that the ministry has issued instructions to the Kuwaiti embassies abroad to inform the authorities in charge not to certify or authenticate the marriage certificates issued in this country without the approval of Kuwait, "A Kuwaiti will need the authentication when he attempts to issue a visit visa to Kuwait for his wife. Here, he will face the problem. The problem will be even worse if he has kids," Al-Rubaian stressed.
The story in numbers:
According to a study performed by the Legal Authentication Department at the Ministry of Justice in 2009 alone, some 14,155 marriages were held by 'Mathoun' outside of the department, in front of the judge, and some by the court. Some 904 marriages were conducted outside of Kuwait and were authenticated in Kuwait. In 2009, there were some 5,965 divorce cases.
In the same year (2009) the marriages between Kuwaitis were 7,581 in number. Another 292 divorced during the same period. The number of Kuwaiti men married to non-Kuwaiti women were 1,984. Between Kuwaitis married to non-Kuwaitis, there were some 91 divorce cases. The number of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaiti men touched 740. Some 44 Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis were divorced during the same period. While there were no divorce cases out of the 94 marriages contracted between the stateless (beedon) in the same year.
When compared to the years 2007 and 2008, marriages have decreased in 2008 from 13,315 in 2007 to 12,810 in 2008. The total number of marriages held in years 2004-2008 reached 12,700.
The percentages of Kuwaitis married to Kuwaitis is 72.1 percent out of the total number of marriages that have taken place in Kuwait. While it is 15.2 percent when the couple are expats. Some 8.7 percent of marriages take place between a Kuwaiti man and a non-Kuwaiti woman. And some four percent of the marriages take place between a Kuwaiti woman and a non-Kuwaiti man.
The Family Consultation Department plays an important role in bringing together couples that plan to divorce. The highest percentage of reunion cases took place between Kuwaiti men and non-Kuwaiti women, which reached 62.3 percent. The study also provided future expectations of the average annual marriage cases to 13,265, with the limits of 11,338 as the lowest possible and 15,192 as the highest number expected for the years 2010-2013.
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