Offshore citizens : permanent temporary status in the Gulf / Noora Anwar Lori.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Limbo statuses and precarious citizenship -- Making the nation : citizens, 'guests' and ambiguous legal statuses -- Demographic growth, migrant policing, and naturalization as a 'national security' threat -- Permanently deportable : the formal and informal institutions of the kafala system -- 'Ta?al bachir' (come tomorrow) : the politics of waiting for identity papers -- Identity regularization and passport outsourcing : turning minorities into foreigners.

When it comes to extending citizenship to some groups, why might ruling political elites say neither 'yes' nor 'no,' but 'wait'? The dominant theories of citizenship tend to recognize clear distinctions between citizens and aliens; either one has citizenship or one does not. This book shows that not all populations are fully included or expelled by a state; they can be suspended in limbo - residing in a territory for protracted periods without accruing citizenship rights. This in-depth case study of the United Arab Emirates uses new archival sources and extensive interviews to show how temporary residency be transformed into a permanent legal status. Temporary residency can informally become permanent through visa renewals and the postponement of naturalization cases. In the UAE, temporary residency was also codified into a formal citizenship status through the outsourcing of passports from the Union of Comoros, allowing elites to effectively re-classify minorities into foreign residents.