New bill aimed to confront residency traffickers

Chairman of the parliament’s Committee of Interior and Defense Affairs MP Sa’adoun Hammad says the bill for amending the law of expatriates’ residency is aimed at confronting isqa peddlers. He revealed that the bill aims at toughening the penalties against residency traffickers by a jail term of maximum five years and a fine of maximum KD 10,000.

MP Hammad cited articles 18 and 28 of the bill which imposes the aforementioned penalties and doubles them in case the convicted is a public sector official and in case the same crime is committed more than once.

MP Hammad explained that for family visit visa, maximum term is only three months and is non-renewable. Extending the visit to one year is only available to companies that bring workers to Kuwait on commercial visit visas, and then have to extend the term and transfer the residency later.

Regarding the five-year residency, the lawmaker said expatriates’ residencies can be renewed at the end of the five-year term, adding that the ten-year residency for the children of Kuwaiti women and the 15-year residency for the owners of real estate in Kuwait and the foreign investors can also be renewed. He explained that, according to the bill, the transfer of domestic workers and those in similar positions is not allowed without the approval of their employers.

Domestic workers are also not allowed to stay outside Kuwait for more than four months unless they obtain a permit from the Ministry of Interior before the end of the four month period; otherwise, their residency will get canceled.