Parliamentary Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee on Sunday approved the proposal to limit the residency period for expatriates with low-income jobs to five years. The bill presented by MP Abdullah Al-Tamimi stipulates deportation of expatriates with low-income jobs after five years of staying in the country. The bill also limits the number of expatriates per nationality to 10 percent compared to the number of Kuwaitis; except the citizens of GCC nations, European Union members and United States of America.

The committee also approved a draft bill presented by MP Nabil Al-Fadel to revoke the law on the automatic cancellation of the residency permits of expatriates who stay outside the country for more than six months provided their visas are still valid.

According to the proposal, at current strength, any expat community should not exceed 125,000. This practically means that around 550,000 Indians, 400,000 Egyptians, about 100,000 Bangladeshis and tens of thousands of Filipinos, Pakistanis and Syrians will become illegal residents because they exceed the quota under the proposal.

According to experts, the bill now must go to the interior and defence committee which must discuss the subject of the proposal and see if it is necessary and useful for the country and if it can be implemented or not. Once approved by the interior and defence committee, the bill will go to the Assembly for approval, and then to the government for final approval.