KUWAIT CITY: Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passport Affairs Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah announced the approval of rectification of legal status of domestic workers who are in violation of the residency laws, provided they pay fines for absconding from their workplaces. The approval comes with a condition that restricts them from transferring their residency for a period of one year from the date of approval of the rectification of their status. In a press statement, Major General Al-Jarrah clarified that the decision to approve rectification of the residency status of domestic workers was taken due to increasing requests from citizens to reconsider the conditions of those who absconded from their sponsors and their desire to pay the relevant fines without having to leave the country. He called upon citizens who wish to lift the absconding cases filed against their domestic workers to visit the Department of Residency Affairs in the respective governorates where necessary measures will be taken in this regard. Major General Al-Jarrah revealed in the statement about a comprehensive plan based on directives from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah to deal with the issue of residency violators and eliminate this phenomenon decisively. He stressed that the security authorities strive to facilitate all procedures for Kuwaiti sponsors and residency violators and take into consideration all humanitarian motives in this regard. Meanwhile, Director of Residency Affairs Department in Capital Governorate Brigadier Fawaz Nasser Al- Roumi urged all residency violators to use this opportunity to either exit the country without paying the relevant fines or rectify their status before Feb 22. He explained that the department accomplished about 947,000 transactions in 2017, which is an average of 5,000 transactions per day.
Currently, it is working with its maximum capacity to facilitate and expedite transactions of residency violators, accomplishing about 100 transactions per day for this category of violators. Brigadier Al-Roumi said, ‘Transactions pertaining to rectification of the violators’ residency status takes not more than ten minutes’. He stressed that thousands of residency violators can benefit from the amnesty by either rectifying their residency status or exiting the country and returning again. Brigadier Al-Roumi affirmed that violators who have absconding cases filed against them can exit the country without referring to their sponsors, provided there are no other lawsuits filed against them or verdicts issued against them. All governments of countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) must encourage their citizens in facing financial and economic difficulties as the era of comfort has ended, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting Professor Neil Patrick from London School of Economics and Political Science.
