Kuwait Faces Shortage Of Domestic Workers Call To Resume Issuing Of Visas

The file of domestic workers in the country is witnessing great neglect by the decision-makers amid the absence of the government’s vision to address the issue of stopping the recruitment of new domestic workers for more than a year. This was not only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also caused the closure of many recruitment offices after they were forced to pay monthly rents and salaries to employees, but also the employment crisis with the Philippines’ side preceded by the Indian and Sri Lankan sides, which has now returned with the suspension of commercial flights, despite the fact that the government platform “Bilsalamah” allocated institutional quarantines for them, reports Aljarida daily.

Chairman of the Union of Owners of Domestic Labor Recruitment Agencies in the country Khaled Al-Dakhnan called on the Cabinet to exclude the “Bilsalamah” platform for returning domestic workers from the Cabinet’s decision to suspend commercial flights at Kuwait International Airport due to the allocation of the platform to quarantine incoming workers as an institutional quarantine rather than home quarantine, as is the case with other travelers.

In a statement issued recently, Al-Dakhnan appealed to the concerned authorities to resume issuance of visas to bring in domestic workers in order to end the domestic worker shortage crisis after a government protocol was put in place to regulate the return of workers from abroad through the “Bilsalamah” platform.

He indicated that the government has no excuse to continue freezing the issuance of visas for the labor recruitment offices amid a major crisis that Kuwaiti families are experiencing.

Al-Dakhnan stressed that the country has not recruited new domestic workers for more than a year before the start of the COVID-19 crisis.

He explained that the union has observed many serious problems due to the suspension of recruitment, which is considered a time crisis, most notably the expiry of many domestic workers’ contracts, and the refusal of sponsors to allow them to travel because there is no alternative. This results in the workers trying to escape, receiving beatings and other problems that harm Kuwait’s reputation due to the lack of its commitment to the agreements that it is keen from time to time to reorganize with the countries that export domestic workers.

Al-Dakhnan called on the Council of Ministers to assign those in charge of the “Bilsalamah”  platform to meet in order to set up a mechanism to open the door for visas to labor recruitment offices and deal with the labor shortage crisis that has exceeded a year without any solutions.

 

SOURCE ARABTIMES KUWAIT

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