120,000 Residency Violators Remain In Kuwait

The Ministry of Interior announced that 120,000 residency visa violators are still in the country who did not take advantage of the amnesty period given by the government to leave the country without paying fines, Al Seyassah daily said. MoI is setting up a plan to arrest the residency violators for deportation after they pay the fines for staying illegally in the country, which is a maximum of KD 600 per person.

A majority of the illegals are believed to be laborers who were brought into the country by visa traders with no jobs, and abandoned to fend for themselves on the streets of Kuwait. Earlier this year, the Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanem called on the government to hold visa traders responsible for the large number of unemployed marginal workers in the country and to refer them to the Public Prosecution.

He pointed out that Kuwait does not tolerate injustice and abuse of workers, especially since visa traders collect money from the poor laborers and then leave them stranded on the street without jobs. Pointing out that there are more than 1.3 million expatriates in the country who are “illiterate or can barely read or write”, the Speaker suggested that the country should move to a focus on hiring only skilled workers rather than unskilled laborers.

The new law recently put into force now specifies penalties for breaking the law. Visa traders who sell visas and facilitate the entry of these expatriates to the country, as well as renew their residences will face a jail-term of up to three years and a fine ranging from KD5,000 to KD10,000. The fine will be imposed on each visa that the visa-trafficker sells to an expat and brings into the country. The punishment is set to double if the crime is perpetrated by civil servants, or if the offense is repeated within five years.

Expat workers who pay for work permits or for residency renewals will similarly be penalized with a one-year jail term and a fine of KD1,000 following an investigation by the Public Prosecution. Employers who fail to pay wages to their expatriate employees will be given jail sentences of up to two years and fined between KD5,000 and KD10,000.

The same penalty is applicable for foreigners who are apprehended for working illegally under other employers. Provisions in the new law also require employers to inform authorities if their expat employees leave the job or if their residency is cancelled, and they do not leave the country. Violators of this provision will receive fines that could range from KD600 to KD2,000.

Previous attempts by the authorities to regulate and reduce the number of expatriates in the country have been less than successful. However, this time around, there appears to be a consensus within the government and the legislature to remedy the country’s distorted demographic structure. This view has gained additional traction in recent months in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and low oil price scenario that has resulted in increased economic and social pressures on Kuwait.

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