New Saudi Laws For Marrying

Expats have to pass some astonishing strict new tests if they want to marry in Saudi Arabia.

In a country with a notorious regime that severely represses the rights of women, the new rules make a mockery of marrying for love and instead demand Saudis tick a list of boxes and provide explanations of why they found romance with a foreigner.

The aim of the new measures would seem to be discouraging Saudi men and women from marrying someone from another country.

Rules for men wedding foreigners

For a Saudi man to marry a foreign woman, the couple have a succession of hoops to jump through, including:

The man must be aged between 40 and 65 years old, have somewhere to live and earn at least £650 a month

The woman must be aged 25 or older, but the age gap between her and her Saudi partner must not be more than 30 years

If the Saudi man is still married at the time of applying to remarry, he must have a confirmation from an approved doctor that his current wife is infertile or unable to undertake ‘marital duties’

For divorces, the man has to wait two years from the official annulment before he can remarry

The rules bar the wife from applying for Saudi



nationality

The couple’s fingerprints and civil records must be handed to the authorities

Explaining why a couple should marry

The rules for Saudi women marrying foreign men are even stricter.

The women must be aged between 30 and 55 years old with an age gap between the couple of no more than 10 years

Women who are orphans, disabled or ‘unacceptable’ to Saudi men can marry foreigners from the lower age of 27

The man cannot be married or have a previous marriage to a Saudi, neither can he have a criminal record or suffer from any infectious or genetic illness

He cannot have served in a foreign army or be barred from entering Saudi Arabia

The man must earn £1,085 a month and have somewhere to live

The marriage does not come with Saudi citizenship for the foreign spouse or their children

The list carries on for both Saudi men and women:

 

The Saudi government keeps a list of foreign nationalities they are forbidden to marry, the foreign spouse must have a passport valid for a year, a Saudi residency visa and both partners must pass a security check.

If the marriage is approved, the couple will be granted a 12-month marriage visa.

Lastly, the Saudi partner must explain to the authorities why they want to marry a foreigner.