The Kuwaiti government has drafted a law that permits foreign nationals to continue working in Kuwait, while it plans to address the demographic imbalance in the country.
As per the draft law, GCC nationals, domestic workers, government contract workers, diplomats and relatives of Kuwaitis will all be exempted from the expat quota system, a panel report revealed.
The law aims to help rebalance the Kuwaiti population, and bans employers from hiring other nationalities once their numbers exceed the daily quotas.
Employers who exceed the expat recruitment quotas in the non-exemption categories will have to face a jail term of nearly 10 years, and a fine of not more than $326,819.
According to the new proposal, Indian nationals should not exceed 15 percent the population, while Filipinos, Sri Lankans and Egyptians should not exceed 10 percent each of the population, while Bangladeshis, Vietnamese, Pakistanis and Nepalis should not exceed five percent each. Other nationalities cannot exceed three percent each, it said.
The draft law has been referred to the human resources development committee for consideration.
The committee said that the excess number of expats will not be asked to leave the country after the law gets effective. However, recruitment from abroad will be stopped until the number of each industry meets the targets.
