Expatriates working in Kuwait will no longer have the option to sponsor their parents, according to a new Interior Ministry decision.

According to Al-Qabas daily report, the Residency Affairs Department stopped the transfer of workers’ article 18 residency visas to dependent visas (article 22) on their children’s sponsorship. This new decision also affects the employee’s mother whose article 22 visa is on the sponsorship of her husband, which means that both parents would have to leave Kuwait in case the father loses his job, instead of being sponsored by their working child, which was applicable as early as last week.

The report explained that it aims at rearranging labor registered on article 22, as it would limit issuance of dependent visas to spouse and children of the working spouse. “The decision came after Residency Affairs Department statistics showed that many parents transfer their residencies to their children,” the report added.