After a prolonged wait, Kuwait has decided to scrap the sponsorship system soon, a Kuwaiti government official revealed.
Speaking to a local daily, the Advisor to Minister of Social Affairs, Daham Al Shamiri said “Work for revoking the sponsorship system has been finalized. The cancellation decision will see the light of the day soon.” Not much details were revealed.
Expatriate workers constitute 3.3 million of the total 4.6million population in Kuwait. Recently, Kuwait has been rocked by alleged scams for bringing illegal expats into the country. Unlawful traders in permits are said to have flooded the country with most being semi-skilled expats.
Al Shamiri said that the Ministry has strengthened efforts to expose fake recruitment firms and bring in justice.
"Dozens of rulings have been issued against owners of these companies over the past two years," he said.
According to a law on small scale enterprises, the manpower authorities are obliged to issue minimum 10 work permits to each owner of such enterprise after he/she obtain a license, the official said. So it makes it difficult to inspect all this large number.
Illegal iqamat trade is a punishable offence in Kuwait, wherein the violator will face three years imprisonment and a fine in the range KD2000 to KD10,000.
