According to regional news media, the Kuwaiti government is expected to extend residence and visit visas for an additional three months beginning from September 1.
The decision was taken on humanitarian grounds especially considering the exceptional scenario of ex-pats being stranded abroad due to the suspension of airport activities.
Earlier, the Ministry of Interior had extended the visit visa automatically until May 31. This time though renewals will be charged at $3.27 (1 Kuwaiti Dinar) per month.
Kuwait’s Public Authority for Manpower has banned the transfer of government workers to the private sector. Additional restrictions have also been put into place to curb the transfer of dependent visas to work visas, for those working in the private sector.
Exemptions
The ban on the transfer of government workers to the private sector has exempted Kuwaiti women’s husbands and children, wives of Kuwaitis, Palestinians with travel documents and those in specialized technical professions, like doctors, nurses and other technical fields from its purview.
Any transfer of employees from the private sector to the government should comply with procedures followed by the manpower authority and the civil service commission.
With regards to the ban of transferring one’s residency from a dependent visa to a work visa, only four groups of people, namely husbands and children of Kuwaiti women, those born in Kuwait, Palestinians with travel documents and those that have a secondary degree diploma from a Kuwaiti educational establishment are exempted to carry out the transfer.
These measures are seen as an extension of the Kuwaitisation policy measures introduced by the nation to reduce the number of ex-pats working in the public sector which aims to shift the workforce balance so that the majority of jobs are done by Kuwaitis.
