Kuwait to begin deporting foreign workers without residency permits

Kuwait to begin deporting foreign workers without residency permits
Kuwaiti authorities are to begin clamping down on businesses without valid licenses and deporting foreign workers without residency permits.
1 min read
12 August, 2021
Thousands of expatriates have been deported from Kuwait from various reasons this year alone [AFP/Getty]

Kuwaiti authorities are expected to launch a crackdown on expatriates living in the capital with expired residency permits.

A joint ministerial committee has been tasked with investigating foreign workers in Kuwait City's Jeleeb Al-Shuyoukh - a lower-income area of the country - and will begin deporting expatriates found without valid papers.

They will also clamp down on unregulated food markets, according to local media.

The Gulf state has seen a mass of illegal markets and unlicensed businesses open in the past few years, particularly in areas populated mainly by foreign labour workers, such as Khaitan and Al-Farwaniyah, according to reports.

Kuwait's Al Rai daily said authorities believe there are around 180,000 residents in Kuwait currently without valid residency permits, hitting a new record.

During the first half of 2021, Kuwait deported 7,808 expatriates for a variety of reasons, including violating the residence law, committing crimes, traffic violations, and other issues.

Foreigners make up 70 percent of Kuwait's population, with a very large percentage of those from South Asia.

Kuwait's labour system, which links migrants' residency status to their jobs and gives employers outsized power, prevails across the Gulf Arab states.

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