KUWAIT: Muhammad, a Palestinian highly-skilled worker, was born and raised in Kuwait and will definitely be affected if the proposal to limit expatriate populations in Kuwait is enforced. The government is studying a series of measures to reduce the size of the expatriate community in Kuwait to 45% of the total population.
Muhammad was born in Kuwait in 1985 to Palestinian parents, who had fled their war-torn country. His parents arrived in Kuwait in the early 80s and worked hard to create a stable life for their family. Muhammad completed his education up to high-school level in Kuwait before pursuing higher education in Jordan. After obtaining a degree in Communication and English Literature, he came back to Kuwait to stay with his parents and work.
Given the possibility of Kuwait's regulations for expats changing, Muhammad fears that he will be driven out of Kuwait. According recent reports, the policy requires the introduction of maximum periods of time that expatriate labor forces are allowed to stay in the country. The period of time varies based on their qualifications: a maximum of six years residency for marginal labor forces, a maximum of eight years residency for unmarried medium-skilled labor forces, the maximum of a 10 year residency for married medium-skilled labor forces and a maximum of 12 years residency for highly-skilled labor forces. Open residency visas will only be given to those with a rare expertise.
"The main goal of setting these averages is to prevent cases of long settlement, after which an expatriate can call for the right to citizenship as per the United States agreements that Kuwait signed," revealed the reports. Moreover, the proposal calls for measures to "clean the country" from marginal labor forces through measures including security campaigns to arrest residents living in violation. "I think the proposal is unfair," said a 27-year old Palestinian expat, who has spent most of his life in Kuwait. "You are denying me of my full rights as human. You are not giving me a chance. I think it's against international laws. You are not offering a solution, you are ignoring the rights of others to co-exist," he added.
The proposal, which is being prepared by the Ministry of Interior in coordination with the cabinet, further calls for the establishment of a quota system to, "...maintain balance between the numbers of different expatriate communities and between the size of the Kuwaiti community." The proposal outlines steps for a governmental plan designed to restore the demographic balance in Kuwait through a set of regulations to be passed by the cabinet. If passed, John, a Filipino mechanic who has been in Kuwait since 1988, will also suffer. He came to Kuwait via his sponsor, a Saudi citizen. After serving his employer for two years, he was transferred to a Kuwaiti employer. Since then, he has been working with him a mechanic.
He supported and raised his family and, even though his children are adults, he wanted to stay in Kuwait to help support his grand-children, who are now enrolled in school and need his help. John is now 58 years old.
"I would love to stay in Kuwait. I love this country very much, even though we are experiencing some bad treatment. But I'm used to it, to the weather here, I'm accustomed to the attitude of the people here, and even the traffic. I'm used to the arrogance from some, but I still want to live here and even die and be buried here," he said. "I hope they'll consider our love for the country. I didn't flee during the war, I stayed here and I know how the people of Kuwait suffered during that time.
I was just one of many witnesses to the atrocities made by Saddam Hussein." Others have a different opinion regarding the government's plan. According to a Jordanian expat who lived most of his life in Kuwait, the plan will not prosper now but, if it does, he wouldn't mind following the regulations. "It's their country and if the system is implemented we cannot say no. What they've done is for the sake of their country and their people. It is according to their economic needs. The fact is that many Kuwaitis are now graduating from colleges and universities and they need jobs; we cannot tell them to accommodate us while their people are having trouble finding work while we earn money; it's not right."
An Indian expat said that the proposal is very unrealistic, suggesting that Kuwait would only be ready for such a change if it eradicated the 'wasta' (connections) system, "Wasta can do anything. However, I believe that they must have a very good explanation for the proposal. Maybe they are going to implement exemptions. Maybe they are ready to implement taxation. We don't know yet if the proposal is the most viable way to reduce the number of expats."
The proposal also addresses the process of recruiting marginal labor forces and suggests means to limit it, for example by limiting the issuance of commercial visas to business owners, capital owners, labor forces with high pay and labor forces with high academic qualifications. The recommendations also include a ban against the transfer of any kind of entrance visas into a work permit. It also suggests the formation of a committee to examine a worker's skills before approving their work permit. The Ministry of Interior, the proponent of the law, could not be reached for comment as of press time. However, the Ministry of Interior has been carrying out extensive crackdowns against illegal residents, in which they reportedly apprehended nearly three thousand violators over the week.
© Kuwait Times 2012
