Granting service-related privileges to children with non-Jordanian fathers ‘a matter of time’ — Kalaldeh

AMMAN — Granting several services and privileges to children of Jordanian women married to foreigners to ease some of the restraints they face in their daily lives “is a matter of time”, Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh said on Monday. 

Kalaldeh, who is a member of a ministerial committee formed by the government last November to examine civil rights options, said the decision has been taken but “surrounding events have delayed the implementation of the committee’s recommendations, which will be issued in the form of regulations.”

Last month, the minister told The Jordan Times that the committee agreed to grant these children “free health and education services, as well as ease restrictions on driving licences, property ownership and investment opportunities”.

The priority for employment will also be for Jordanian women’s offspring in such cases, according to Kalaldeh. 

“The government took the decision to help families of Jordanian women and we came up with several recommendations and this is final and irreversible,” Kalaldeh said.

Women’s groups and activists have been demanding for years that Jordanian women be allowed to pass on their citizenship to their children and spouses, a right that only men enjoy.

These women face various difficulties such as obtaining visas and residency permits for their husbands and children, shuttling between police stations and health centres every year to get security clearances and medical reports.

This procedure will not be changed, according to Kalaldeh.

“This is something that we cannot change overnight and needs the revisions of many laws; it is not feasible at this point of time,” the minister said.

The same applies for citizenship “which will not be granted to children of these families because of its political implication”, the minister asserted.

Around 84,000 Jordanian women married to foreigners live in the Kingdom, according to official figures.

Government officials have said in the past that the decision not to allow Jordanian women married to foreigners to pass on their nationality is “solely political”.

Individuals and entities that oppose granting citizenship to family members of these women, particularly those with Palestinian husbands, say such a measure will only work to ensure “Israel’s ultimate plan of creating a substitute homeland for Palestinians in Jordan”.