Kuwait's Nationality Revocation Campaign: What UK immigration and nationality options are available to those affected?

Since 2024, the Kuwaiti authorities have been undertaking a systematic review of nationality files, resulting in the revocation of nationality from reportedly tens of thousands of its citizens to date. Despite outcries from the international community, the campaign is showing no signs of slowing down. For many former Kuwaiti citizens now living in the UK, the loss of nationality is extremely unsettling, and raises significant immigration and legal complications.
 

This blog explores the immigration and nationality options that may be available to those affected.

Who is affected?
 

The citizenship review campaign was first introduced to address cases where nationality is alleged to have been obtained through fraud, forgery, false claims of lineage, or in breach of Kuwait's prohibition on dual nationality. However, its scope has recently expanded significantly, with nationality also being withdrawn from some people who acquired it through dependency, including via marriage or maternal descent, and in some cases, on grounds linked to state security and its perceived interests.

The UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls has warned that nationality withdrawals are having a disproportionate impact on women and children and may leave affected individuals vulnerable to exclusion and marginalisation.

Practical implications of the loss of nationality
 

For many, loss of Kuwaiti nationality means the loss of residence rights, access to healthcare, education, employment rights and identity documentation. Many also risk losing assets, including property and money held in Kuwaiti bank accounts. Kuwaiti authorities are providing a grace period of a few months to allow affected people to either reclaim their former foreign nationality or secure alternative residency or nationality, during which they are able to temporarily travel using their Kuwaiti passports.

What options are available to those in the UK?
 

While each case requires careful assessment, there are various potential routes that may be particularly relevant to people in the UK who have been stripped of their Kuwaiti nationality.

A. Applying for permission to stay as a stateless person

Many former Kuwaitis will have no claim to another nationality, leaving them stateless. Appendix Statelessness is a dedicated route for people who satisfy the 1954 Statelessness Convention’s definition of a stateless person (someone who “is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”) and who, despite taking reasonable steps, has been unable to acquire nationality with the competent authorities of any relevant countries or establish a right of admission to such countries as a permanent resident or with a status leading to permanent residence.

The Home Office requires substantial evidence regarding nationality history, family background, identity documentation, and attempts to secure nationality or status leading to permanent residence from other relevant states.

A successful application under Appendix Statelessness will result in a grant of 5 years permission to stay in the UK, following which applicants will be eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

Successful applicants will also be eligible to apply for a Stateless Person’s Travel Document, to enable them to travel internationally.

B. Claiming asylum

In certain circumstances, a person whose Kuwaiti nationality has been revoked may have grounds to claim asylum in the UK.

There is authority in case law for the position that deprivation of nationality can amount to persecution within the meaning of the Refugee Convention. It will be necessary to demonstrate which of the five Convention reasons (race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a particular social group) is engaged in relation to the basis for revocation, which will be different in each case.

Those who have been stripped of their nationality due to their opposition activities, or belonging to groups who are systematically targeted, for example, may have strong claims for asylum. But each claim will depend on its own facts and claims to nationality or residence rights in other countries can affect the outcome.

Even where a claim does not satisfy the requirements of the Refugee Convention, there may be sufficient basis for a grant of humanitarian protection or permission under the European Convention on Human Rights.

A successful grant of refugee status or humanitarian protection will result in 2.5 years’ permission to stay in the UK for those who claimed on or after 2 March 2026. The route to settlement is currently uncertain due to pending reforms but could take up to 20 years in some cases.

Those granted refugee status will be able to apply for a Refugee Convention Travel Document, enabling international travel. If an alternative form of leave is granted, it may still be possible to apply for a Stateless Person’s Travel Document where they are stateless.

C. Naturalisation

Former Kuwaitis in the UK who are eligible for naturalisation as British may likely not have applied due to Kuwait’s prohibition of dual nationality.

Those (not married or in a civil partnership with a British citizen) who have held indefinite leave to remain for 12 months and have been lawfully resident in the UK for at least five years, without excessive absences, will satisfy the residency requirements for naturalisation.  For those married to British citizens, the required residence period is three years and there is no requirement to have held indefinite leave to remain for 12 months before applying.  Under both routes, there are a number of other requirements to be satisfied including English language, good character and knowledge of life in the UK.

In cases where applicants do not meet those requirements, there is the option of requesting that the Home Office exercise discretion. For example, we recently secured British citizenship for a client whose absences significantly exceeded the published thresholds, arguing that without exercising discretion, this individual would otherwise have been left stateless, and that this would constitute a breach of the UK’s obligations under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.  

Positively, the Home Office has recently introduced a priority service for nationality applications, meaning that in certain circumstances these applications can now be expedited to ensure a decision is received within 30 working days of the applicant’s biometric appointment.  

Conclusion
 

We act for several Kuwaiti clients who have, with no prior warning, been stripped of a nationality which they have held for their entire lives. For those affected in the UK, there may be viable immigration and nationality solutions available, including those explored above.

If you have any queries in relation to the issues raised, please contact a member of the immigration team.

About the authors

Oliver is a senior associate in the Immigration Team and International Protection Group. He has been practising immigration law since 2012, with a particular focus on asylum, human rights, detention and deportation matters. He has extensive experience of preparing complex asylum claims, representing clients in their appeals at all levels and in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, and bringing judicial review challenges against Home Office decisions all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Josephine is an associate in the private client immigration team, where she advises high net worth individuals on a range of UK immigration matters. She joined the team in November 2019, after completing her training contract at Kingsley Napley.