Dubai: More than one million expatriates including Indians, living for over 10 years in Saudi Arabia, can benefit from an amended naturalisation law, which offers them citizenship of the kingdom and related rights.

Expatriates of all nationalities, who have been living in the kingdom for over 10 years, are entitled to apply for Saudi citizenship and their travels abroad with re-entry visas will not disqualify them, a senior official said.

More than one million expatriates would benefit from the amended naturalisation Law, which was passed by the Council of Ministers on Monday (Oct 18, 2004), Under-Secretary for Civil Status at the Interior Ministry, Nasser ibn Hamad Al-Hanaya, told 'Arab News' daily.

There are nearly 8.8 million expatriates, mostly Asians and Arabs, in the Kingdom.

Referring to the job requirements mentioned by the new law, Al-Hanaya said holders of degrees in medicine, computer science and other branches of science and technology would be given priority. "The jobs required by the country will change in accordance with new developments."

The amended law increased the applicants' period of stay in the Kingdom from five to 10 years in order to help them acclimatise with the Kingdom's culture and traditions, he said.

However, the law would take at least four months to come into effect. "We will look into applications only after an executive bylaw is issued on the amended law," he said.