Kuwait Lawmakers Call To Adopt Quota System For Main Expat Communities

Kuwait lawmakers call to adopt quota system for main expat communities

Kuwait lawmakers call to adopt quota system for main expat communities

Kuwait lawmakers calls to adopt a quota system for main expat communities in the country in a bid to balance the demographic structure.

The government could face “some difficulties” when issuing a decision on quotas due to its impact on relations with other countries.“Therefore, MPs want to link that with a law issued by parliament,”

The draft law stipulates a certain percentage for the main expat communities in the country depending on its current size as the proposed percentage is from the Kuwaiti population of 1.4 million at present.

Read: Tax on Expats Remittance Revives Discussion

The proposed percentage by for each expat community is as follows:

15 % Indians allowed.

10 % Filipinos, Sri Lankans and Egyptians allowed.

5 % Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Pakistanis and Vietnamese allowed.

The rest of communities a maximum of 3 % each allowed.

This means that the total number of all expatriates in Kuwait will be almost equal to 1.4 million citizens.

The main reduction will be from the large expat communities mainly Indians who must be cut by around 800,000 to make them within the allotted quota of 210,000. Egyptians also would have to be reduced by at least 550,000 to make them around 140,000 which is their quota.

There will be massive reductions from the Filipino, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi and other communities.

The implementation of this proposed legislation appears to be impossible because there are more than 250,000 Indians working as domestic helpers which is already above the proposed quota.

Kuwait has been working on reducing its expatriate population in order to boost nationalization in the workforce.

The bill proposes penalties of 10 years in jail and a fine of up to KD 100,000 for any public employee who violates the law.