The only outsiders Qatar seems interested in giving passports to are those people who can win them medals in Olympics/International sporting competitions.
Didn't FIFA and the IOC tighten up on nationality and residency rules recently to cut down on (restrict) the phenomena of buying athletes?
If anything, I think the US, Canada and some other countries that up until now have been rather free and easy with their passport rules are going to be tightening up. Too many people just fly there and have a kid, but really have no cultural affiliation or ties to the country/culture itself -- yet they call themselves American or Canadian.
I'll freely admit this is one of my pet peeves. I have no problem with granting citizenship to others, and I love that my country embraces immigrants and welcomes them into the fold, but I DO have a problem with the hordes of people that, in my opinion, are merely US passport holders. They've never lived there, have no intention to, don't identify culturally as Americans, and basically just suck up the benefits of being a US citizen.
I do think it would be good if Qatar loosened up its definition of who is a Qatari citizen to include the many, many people who were born and lived here all their lives (often their families have been here for generations). Even if they wanted to exclude certain benefits to them (no free water/elec, no interest free loans, etc.), giving those individuals a Qatari passport would be a positive step, would acknowledge their commmitment and contributions to this society.
And seeing as many of these people lack their own travel papers (are Palestinians without a state of their own), it would be a huge kindness to some of their Arab brothers and sisters.
But I won't hold my breath...
"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou
The only outsiders Qatar seems interested in giving passports to are those people who can win them medals in Olympics/International sporting competitions.
Didn't FIFA and the IOC tighten up on nationality and residency rules recently to cut down on (restrict) the phenomena of buying athletes?
If anything, I think the US, Canada and some other countries that up until now have been rather free and easy with their passport rules are going to be tightening up. Too many people just fly there and have a kid, but really have no cultural affiliation or ties to the country/culture itself -- yet they call themselves American or Canadian.
I'll freely admit this is one of my pet peeves. I have no problem with granting citizenship to others, and I love that my country embraces immigrants and welcomes them into the fold, but I DO have a problem with the hordes of people that, in my opinion, are merely US passport holders. They've never lived there, have no intention to, don't identify culturally as Americans, and basically just suck up the benefits of being a US citizen.
I do think it would be good if Qatar loosened up its definition of who is a Qatari citizen to include the many, many people who were born and lived here all their lives (often their families have been here for generations). Even if they wanted to exclude certain benefits to them (no free water/elec, no interest free loans, etc.), giving those individuals a Qatari passport would be a positive step, would acknowledge their commmitment and contributions to this society.
And seeing as many of these people lack their own travel papers (are Palestinians without a state of their own), it would be a huge kindness to some of their Arab brothers and sisters.
But I won't hold my breath...
"Most plain girls are virtuous because of the scarcity of opportunity to be otherwise."
-- Maya Angelou