Quota for nationalities, 15-year stay limit, No renewal above 60 years - More measures on its way to reduce expats

IIK Staff Reporter

Friday, June 12, 2020

Kuwait is planning to take more stringent measures to control the expatriates' populations to overcome the demographics imbalance in the country.

According to Arabic media reports, a meeting was organized by the Supreme Committee to address the demographics imbalance discussed various scenarios for reducing the number of expatriates in the country.

Making amendments to the residency law to limit the number of stay for expatriates to a maximum of 15 years, implementing the quota system for each nationality, increasing the fees imposed on expatriates for various services are the points the committee discussed in length.

According to Arabic media, two separate meetings were held, first with the representatives of the Public Authority for Manpower, the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development and the Central Administration of Statistics, and the second one with representatives from the Ministry of Interior, where each party presented its views on various points discussed. A comprehensive plan has to be developed to make a foolproof system.

Sources said that some of the points discussed include amendments to the residence law to avoid the gaps in current law. These includes not allowing the visit visa to be converted into residence permits, stop the transfer of residence from the government sector to the private sector, stop the renewal of residency for those above 60 years of age, and limit the number of stay for an expatriate to a maximum of 15 years.

The committee also discussed the ways to limit a large number of expatriates in certain sectors like the ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.

Sources also reported that the Committee will present its final report within two weeks.

As per statistics, the Kuwaiti population in the country is only 30 percent of the total population. There is approximately 1,400,000 Kuwaiti citizen while the population of the expatriate is around 3,300,000.

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