Manama: Kuwait’s Parliament has finalized a draft bill limiting the number of expat workers in the country and ban some types of visa transfers, according to reports.
According to the bill, within six months of the law being enacted, the Cabinet will make a decision on the maximum number of expats allowed in Kuwait compared to the local population as well as foreign workers.
The bill exempts 10 categories from the quota system, including domestic helpers, medical staff, educators, pilots, and GCC nationals. The draft bill bars the transfer of domestic helpers to work in the private or oil sectors, and bans transfer of visit visas into work or dependent visas. In addition, it bars renewal of residencies of laborers recruited to work on government contracts after the projects are executed, unless they are needed in other government projects.
The bill also stipulates forming a committee to be known as the ‘National Committee for Regulating and Administering Kuwait’s Demography’.
In addition, the bill recommends preparing a study on the reasons of demographic imbalances in Kuwait and setting a general policy to regulate Kuwait’s demography in a way that best serves the state’s general development plans and submit its recommendations accordingly.
Kuwait Parliament and government have been working on various plans to reduce the number of expats in the country for the last few years.
Earlier this month, the Cabinet approved a new foreign residency draft law to limit the stay of thousands of expats in the country, which proposed sweeping penalties against visa traders and failure to pay salaries. The new government-proposed residency law will be sent to the parliament for debate and approval with the aim to modernize the current law issued 51 years ago. According to reports, the focal point of the new government residency law is fighting visa trading and banning expats working illegally with employers who are not their sponsors.
The country announced last week that it would stop issuing work permits for expats aged over 60 without a university degree, and will not extend any resident visas beyond August 31. This condition was perceived as part of a larger plan to cut the overall number of expats in the country. According to this plan, 150,000 of these will be expats aged over 60.
Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday that around 1,183 job contracts for expats working across 48 governmental agencies in the country have been cancelled. The move came as part of the current fiscal year (2020/2021) budget plan and the government is ramping up localization of jobs, Al Rai reported.
