Parliamentarians demand to treat expats well

During a debate in the assembly over the budgets of the Public Manpower Authority, MP Khalil Abul criticized the way some officials deal with expatriates. “They deal in a horrible behaviour with expatriates as if they were not humans,” said the former academic, who demanded the treatment should be improved.

Another parliamentarian Abdullah Al-Turaiji said the government and ministers have spoken volumes about visa traders who recruited tens of thousands of foreign laborers for fees and without providing them with jobs, but no action has been taken.

He said that the government has a golden opportunity to rectify the demographic structure which has become a major burden on the country. According to latest statistics, the number of expatriates is around 2.9 million people compared with just under 1.3 million Kuwaitis.

MP Ahmad Lari called for increasing fees for work permits to be equal with charges paid for the recruitment of domestic helpers. He also called for allowing citizens to directly recruit maids instead of paying fortunes for recruitment offices. Lari said that Kuwaitis are a minority in their own country and asked about plans to rectify the demographic structure and reduce the number of unskilled manpower.