4,500 expats deported in four months

KUWAIT: The Public Authority for Manpower plans to impose new conditions on transactions for expats older than 65 who hold no university degrees, said informed sources.

The sources added that some labor departments had already started banning visa transfers from one company to another for this particular category.

The sources added that according to Public Authority of Civil Information (PACI) statistics, the total number of expats older than 65 is 23,500 in the private sector, 2,250 as domestic helpers, 9,516 housewives, 488 retirees with special income and 1,094 unemployed.

The sources said 10,217 expats older than 65 hold university degrees or higher, while 8,914 are illiterate, 8,599 can only read and write, 6,082 have completed high school, 5,618 intermediate school and 4,302 only have a primary school education. In a related development, well-informed sources told local Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas that security authorities deported 4,500 expats since the beginning of this year until the end of April.

The sources added they were deported for various reasons including violating residency laws or involvement in criminal cases. “The process of deportation has grown faster than ever,” the sources underlined. However, concerned sources stressed that Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and his Undersecretary Lt Gen Essam Al-Nahham have given strict instructions not to be abusive in deportation or deport any expats without due legal cause.

Meanwhile, the residency investigation department has issued arrest warrants against 800 expats, mainly Arabs, who had been recruited and brought to Kuwait by fake companies, said informed sources, noting that two Kuwaiti officials of those companies have been arrested and a travel ban had been imposed to prevent other suspects from leaving the country.

By A Saleh and Meshaal Al-Enezi