The Deportation Of Expatriates Stranded In Kuwait Is In Progress

According to the Ministry of Interior, remarkable facilities continue to be offered to those arrested for violating labor and residence laws who are awaiting their departure. In parallel with ongoing security campaigns by the concerned authorities, some embassies are working to finalize procedures for citizens stranded in Kuwait, according to Al-Qabas daily. In this regard, the expatriates who are in violation of the labor and residency laws are provided with an exit visa as soon as they get clearance of their residency status of Kuwait and after paying the fines.

The process is coordinated with their embassies. In this regard, the Embassy of the Philippines in Kuwait has completed the procedures for 630 Filipino nationals, who were among those arrested and sheltered in the deportation center. Ongoing inspection campaigns in various areas of the country resulted in the arrest of hundreds of law violators among domestic workers or holders of Article 18 permit against whom absconding reports were filed, and they were sheltered in deportation center. These campaigns are part of the efforts to remove marginal workers and fugitives from the labor market.

Kuwaiti citizens objected to being forced to pay for the flight tickets of their absconded workers after they were arrested. In an interview with the daily, they demanded that the minister of interior and director general of the Public Authority for Manpower should work on amending the provisions of the domestic labor law, and avoid obligating employers to pay for the tickets of the fugitives and absconders, especially since they refuse to work, adding that some workers have remained absconding for years without being arrested.

A complaint was filed on the first day of the worker's absconding, and the sponsor was required to pay the value of the ticket to deport him. The citizens insisted that this decision must be addressed, and the violating workers must be charged with the value of the ticket, and those who are deported must be blacklisted. They warned about a “black market” that lures domestic workers and urges them to flee from their sponsors’ homes to work in other fields in exchange for high sums of salary ranging between KD 250 and KD 300 per month. The citizens called on the concerned authorities to approve raising the value of the financial violations against the violators, especially the fugitive workers who were found working in the private sector.

Furthermore, many accredited embassies in the country provide temporary travel documents and tickets for their violating or stranded workers without violating employers' rights. In this regard, informed sources affirmed that pending disputes with companies or owners of domestic workers are being resolved in the event that there are financial claims or cases filed against the worker other than the absconding case.

In coordination with the embassies, the violating worker was granted an exit permit after settling his status and paying the fines. The Philippine Embassy, through two trips in August and September, was able to complete the deportation procedures for 630 Filipinos, including 22 children and 30 sick persons, who were among those arrested and sheltered in the deportation center.

In a video report published on YouTube, the Philippine ABS-CBN news website reported that 343 Filipino workers were on board the flight which departed Kuwait on September 5. Most of the returnees are domestic workers, and that the flight is the second from Kuwait and the largest in terms of the total number of departures.

During the first half of this year, the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) arrested 606 violating domestic workers who had left their sponsors to work in the private sector. This means that the authority every month seizes 100 fugitive domestic workers who work for other parties in violation of the law.

Since the start of this year until July, 213 violations have been recorded against domestic workers by the Department of Recruitment of Domestic Workers in PAM. The statistics showed that 74 violations, which were referred to the judiciary, were registered against workers who left their sponsors. The rest of the complaints were recorded in various fields by employers against their workers.

Comments Post Comment

Leave a Comment

Submit