UAE Opens Citizenship to Select Foreigners to Boost Economy
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The United Arab Emirates plans to offer citizenship to a select group of foreigners, the first Gulf Arab nation to formalize a process aimed at giving expatriates a bigger stake in the economy.
The major policy shift unveiled on Saturday is aimed at attracting talent in a way that will boost growth in the UAE, home to the Middle East’s finance and travel hubs and millions of expatriate residents.
Stock markets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi largely shrugged off the move -- benchmark indexes in both cities lost about 0.5% on Sunday.
Foreign residents make up more than 80% of the population of the UAE’s seven sheikhdoms and have been a mainstay of the economy for decades. But they lacked a clear path to citizenship, including if they were born and raised in the country.
