Kuwaits draft expat quota law will have exemptions

DUBAI: The Kuwaiti government has drafted a law that will allow some foreign nationals to continue working in the country as it works to redress the balance of employment between expats and its own citizens.

Under the draft law domestic workers, GCC nationals, government contract workers as well as diplomats and relatives of Kuwaitis will all be exempt from the expat quota system, a panel report said.

The law - which aims to help rebalance Kuwait’s population - bans employers from hiring other nationalities once their numbers exceed the agreed quotas, local daily Kuwait Times reported.

Employers that exceed expat recruitment quotas in non-exempt lines of work face a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of not more than $326,819.

The new proposal states that Indian nationals must not exceed 15 percent of the population. Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Egyptians must not account for more than 10 per cent each, while Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Nepalis and Vietnamese must not cross five percent each, it said.

Other nationalities cannot exceed three percent each, it added.

The draft law has been referred to Kuwait’s human resources development committee for consideration.

The committee said surplus expats will not be asked to leave the country after the law becomes effective. But recruitment from abroad will be stopped until the number of each industry meets the targets, it added.