For expats working here in Kuwait, it is typical to land a job or to set up your own business through sponsorship from a Kuwaiti citizen or a company based here in the Gulf State. Once you have applied for and received your work visa and civil ID, you will learn that there are more things that you will need to depend on your sponsor for as long as you intend to stay here in Kuwait.
Despite its western connotation associated to supporting art exhibits and sporting events, there is more to being a sponsor here in Kuwait than simply providing employment. A sponsor is someone who will act as a guardian or a guarantor for foreigners who are in the Gulf State. This involves a lot of paperwork for the administrative services an expat may need (i.e. applying for residence and work visa, opening a bank account, and signing a rent contract) on his/her behalf. In case your sponsor is no longer able to provide for your collected payments (rent, utilities) or salary, or if your sponsor has suddenly become unemployed or suspended, then here’s what you need to do to apply for a change of sponsor:
Applying for a Sponsor Change for Collections Payment in Kuwait
As you well know by now, you need to meet certain requirements to land and/or keep your job, even to reside here in Kuwait. Therefore, it is obviously important to maintain your sponsorship status as an expat working here. And should you need to change sponsors for your collections payment, here are the things that you need to do:
Requirement
- Request a copy of your new sponsor’s recent salary/employment certificate indicating his/her monthly salary (where he/she must also be employed by a government entity)
Procedures
As this is considered part of the legal requirements for a sponsor or an employer to stand as legal guardian or guarantor for foreign workers and expats here in Kuwait, the process to change or to pass on sponsorship is typically undertaken by the former and the new sponsor.
- The person taking on the new sponsor’s role should go to the Collection Department, and provide his/her latest salary certificate in order to sign a payment undertaking letter.
- Upon receipt of the necessary document(s), the personnel in charge at the department will review the salary certificate as well as the undertaking letter signed by the new sponsor.
- If everything is well in order, the personnel will encode all the required information needed to change sponsorship, prepare the information update letter to be sent to the employer, and update the collection card.
Note: There are no fees needed to be paid for this process. You only need to communicate to your sponsor(s) all the necessary requirements they need to provide for this change.