The Ministry of the Interior (MoI) provided residency visa violators in the country a one-month amnesty to leave safely, at the Kuwait Government’s expense and without any fines. However, 16.2 percent of the total violators did not benefit from the time, taking into account the numbers of departures of 26,224 violators from Kuwait. There are 26,029 residency violators left in the country, and 195 remain on the waiting list, out of 16, 1538 violators registered in the Ministry’s records, reports Al Rai daily.
The General Administration of Residency Affairs, Brigadier Dr. Hamad Rashid Al Tawala, highlighted statistics that revealed that after the end of the amnesty period for residency visa violators, 135,314 violators remained in the country, of whom 104,782 violated the residence law, and 30,532 are in violating of the visa law, as they entered Kuwait on a visit or work visas and did not leave or obtain residency permits.
Al-Tawala said that the coronavirus pandemic crisis revealed that some aspects must be worked on directly, and firmly without hesitation to address the demographic imbalance, and the presence of marginal workers residing in the country.
He outlines plans to prepare a study for possibly increasing fees for all types of residency, including the family and commercial, tourist and family visit civil ids, by submitting the proposal to the relevant authorities, before getting legal approvals from the Council of Ministers, and the law will be referred to the National Assembly to address population imbalances.
Al Tawala revealed to Al Rai, other ideas to alter the demographics including limiting the duration of an expat’s stay to 5 years except for special cases of expats with high degrees and experiences, and adding restrictions in issuing visas for expats to enter the country.
In regard to the possibility of increasing visa fees, he said that Kuwait is the cheapest country in the world for expat residency fees, and the new assessed residence fees will be close to what is set in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council and you will see the light before the end of the current year.
To the query of what are the numbers of expats whose residency visas have expired while abroad, and being unable to return due to the suspension of flights, he said that there about 40,000 expatriates with expired residency visas while they are outside the country, due to the failure of the sponsor or the agency to renew their visas where they work. This has made it difficult for them to return to the country except with an entry visa or a new visa.
Al Tawala noted that about 7,000 residents of the Egyptian and Indian community have canceled their residency visa permanently and left the country during the coronavirus crisis, most of them bachelors.
He added that once the work resumed in Government entities, around 80 thousand people fixed their status, and there are 100 thousand who entered the country on visiting visas, and they will leave immediately, and the remaining, up to 200 thousand expats, will complete their process online. Except those who wish to transfer their residency from one company to another and expats who wish to cancel their residency permanently, will have to visit office to complete the procedure with ease.
In response to the outcome of thousands of expats registered on some companies whose owners have been referred to the prosecution and had a block put on their files. Al Tawala stated that continuous meetings will be held to reach a solution to preserve labor rights.