Expats fees to be increased

KUWAIT CITY, Jun 12: The Human Resources Development Committee gave the government two weeks time to submit in written responses to the committee related to the government’s plans to address the imbalances in the demographics and the quota of nationalities and determine the length of stay of the expatriate in the country.

Sources revealed that meeting which was held on Tuesday by parliamentarians, government is to introduce legislative amendments to the expats residence law and in terms of increasing fees for expatriates.

During the meeting, representatives of the Ministry of Interior stated that two countries did not cooperate with Kuwait in the deportation of residence violators, measures with these two countries will be taken.

MP Khalil Al-Saleh

MP Khalil Al-Saleh, stated that two weeks have been given to present its report on demographics, stressing that there was inaction that caused the high increase in the number of expatriates which increased burden of financially and socially.

Al-Saleh said in a press statement that the committee discussed the issue of demographics and how to deal with it, pointing out that there is a supreme national committee to change the demographics created since 2014, but has not submitted any project yet.

Al-Saleh further stated that the committee also discussed the issue of quotas and nationalities that will be dealt with in the future especially as the number of Kuwaitis reaches approximately 1 million and 400,000 people compared to 3 million expatriates, which is a high percentage, as the number of citizens did not reach 50 percent compared to expats, there is no alternative to draining the sources of residence permits and specifying a quota for nationalities, while specifying a maximum limit for expatriate residency in the country.

Al-Saleh added that the government’s vision on this issue was discussed, especially that the Corona crisis revealed the presence of infiltration’s for expatriates, in addition to that there are expatriates who do not want to leave the country. He said that this issue is comprehensive and very large, especially that any expatriate who comes to Kuwait enjoys financial and social benefits.

Al-Saleh revealed that the government agencies that attended the meeting touched on the issue of amending the residence laws in Kuwait as very important issue. The committee asked them to submit these legislation’s to the committee for follow-up, especially after these two countries who refused to receive their citizens, which increased the cost on Kuwait.

He stressed that one of the biggest mistakes that occurred in the past was the failure to establish 4 labor cities projects out of 6 projects, which revealed a clear and tangible inaction in this matter.

Al-Saleh pointed out that there will be seriousness on the part of the Human Resources Development Committee in following up this issue.