Panel approves law to reduce expatriate; Domestic workers and Mega projects exempted

Tuesday, September 22, 2020

National Assembly panel passed a draft law to reduce the number of expats in the country over the next five years, but did not impose specific caps or percentages. Head of the human resources development committee MP Khalil Al-Saleh said the panel framed the bill after studying eight proposals. The law will be sent to the Assembly for debate.

The draft law gives the government six months to determine the number of expats needed by the country and stipulates that a certain percentage of expats will be determined with regards to the number of citizens. It also stipulates setting specific percentages of various expat communities.

The bill excludes a number of categories from the cap on expats. This include Gulf citizens, domestic helpers, judges, diplomatic corps, aviation operators, expat workers recruited for mega projects, spouses of Kuwaitis and their children, medical and educational staff and any other category that may be added by the Cabinet.

The law also forbids the transfer of residency of domestic helpers to the private sector and transferring visit visas to work permits or dependent visas. The bill sets a penalty of three years in jail and a fine of up to KD 5,000 for violators.

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