Laws to help better conditions of foreigners and end abuses by visa traffickers urged.
Manama: A Kuwaiti columnist has called for reforming his country’s immigration laws to help improve the condition of foreigners and end abuse by visa traffickers.
“We need to make serious reforms in the immigration laws in Kuwait, as the sponsor system must be cancelled to leave this matter between the expat and the state,” Labeed Abdul said. “Moreover, the types of jobs, services provided, responsibilities and levels of income for an expatriate must be considered for a permanent visa, whenever Kuwait starts to consider this matter.”
Writing in the local daily Kuwait Times, Labeed called for an end to “making people suffer through forcing them to live on 30 days’ entry visas or work visas that can be misused by employers”.
A solution he suggested was to introduce green cards, similar to the ones in the US.
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“A green card provides permission to reside and work in the country on a permanent basis. It is an immigration process that will develop into a permanent stay in the country after having been a lawful resident. It also can be taken away if there is any failure to meet local regulations and can positively lead to naturalisation,” he wrote on Thursday.
“In Kuwait, there are thousands of foreigners who have lived and worked here for ten years or more and respect all the rules made by the government and have made Kuwait their home. Those people want to stay here with their families since they feel there is nowhere else to go, as they lived, married and even had their children here.”
Labeed said that a large number of people considered Kuwait “a great place to live in” and “have successfully adapted to its culture and had great and friendly relations with its people.”
“We indeed want them not to feel unwelcome or extremely worried whenever the clock starts its quick ticking towards expiry dates for their visas.”
Around three million people live in Kuwait, with foreigners making up two-thirds of the total population.
Most expatriates are unskilled labourers from Asian countries working in the booming construction sector.
Several labour officials from the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have called for imposing five- or six-year residency caps, mainly on unskilled workers, arguing that they could turn into a security threat.
However, business communities have resisted the proposal, saying that it would disrupt the economy and would cause chaos in the local markets.
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