Extensive Security Campaigns To Arrest 75 Thousand Violators

The authorities in the Ministry of Interior have completed their decisive plan to launch extensive security campaigns to arrest residency visa violators, who are estimated to number about 75,000, Al Qabas daily reports. The illegals are in hiding, and refused to take advantage of the amnesty period recently granted by the ministry for illegal expats to leave the country. These violators are unable to amend their residency status because they have been an illegal resident in Kuwait for a very long time, unlike about 15,000 other violators who qualify to amend their residency status after paying the penalties.

The campaigns will be launched immediately after the expats currently in detention are deported first, and the airport resumes full operations with daily flights so that the violators can be deported as soon they are arrested in a bid to avoid overcrowding in police stations, detention centers and deportation centers in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The daily said, quoting sources, that the planned campaigns will involve several security sectors, and will depend on new plans and methods that differ completely from previous campaigns. The places where a large number of violators are in hiding are being monitored for them to be raided to arrest the violators.

According to the sources, the amnesty period in April did not yield results, nor did it achieve its goal, as the number of expats who benefited was about 26 thousand only. The issue is that some violators insist on staying until the last moment, despite repeated assurances that they would be treated humanely.

The country will witness unconventional and unprecedented security campaigns to arrest them, and to expel them from the country at all costs.

Majority illegals are victims of visa traders

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.

 

Source Thetimeskuwait

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