Kuwait’s Interior Ministry has announced it is considering not allowing expatriates over 60 to return to the country. The Ministry are studying the status of 70,000 expatriates who have been stranded because of Coronavirus. The Ministry will report back next week and are expected to recommend who should be allowed back into the country. Those who are allowed to return will be issued with new visit visas which will then be transferred to their existing residency visas. The Ministry are expected to recommend certain labourers, expatriates who are 60 or over and those sponsored by fake companies who have no actual jobs not be allowed to return. In addition, domestic workers who are over 60 or have a criminal record should not be allowed to return. The sums owed by those who are allowed to return will be collected by the Public Authority for Manpower from their employers. Claims for these amounts will be able to be made through the Authority’s website. The Ministry are also expected to recommend arrival and departure lists of dependents are obtained to examine the length of their stay in Kuwait. If they are breaking the stay rules, they will not be allowed to return. The announcement by the Ministry follows a proposal from a Kuwaiti MP for residency permits to stop being issued to expatriates over 60 or those being treated at psychiatric hospitals. They also urged the Government to issue a decision banning expatriates from working two jobs and anyone found to be violating this decision should be deported immediately. Histoire complète
