Gov’t Tightens Visa Approvals on 6 Nationalities, Plans to Impose Job Tests for Expats

As the government looks to address the population imbalance in the country, as well as to provide more jobs particularly from the private sector to citizens, there have been new measures set in place by the various residency affairs officials to deal with the current problem in the country.

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The country is moving towards the direction of achieving sustainable manpower allocation also known as “Kuwaitization” which is expected to take full effect by 2023.

Gov’t Tightens Visa Approvals on 6 Nationalities, Plans to Impose Job Tests for Expats

Tighter Visa Issuance on 6 Nationalities, Plans to Impose Job Tests for Expats

In line with this, various residency affairs managers have been instructed not to approve any visit or entry visa requests for nationals of Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Such requests will be forwarded to Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah, who shall be directly responsible for the approval and rejection of applications coursed through the concerned departments in this process, as shared in a report by the Kuwait Times.

Meanwhile, the manpower authority is also studying the possibility of subjecting expats who are applying for work in the country to professional tests prior to allowing them entry to Kuwait.

Based on the proposed plan, the first phase of the tests will be done in Kuwait, and then later on be conducted overseas once the professions to be included have been identified, and once the professional standard division sets the job description for each profession.

This should help the government curb the entry of workers coming from the countries specified. And once visa issuance becomes limited, more employers will tap into the available manpower resources in the country, which would most likely prioritize citizens.

Furthermore, the decision to give professional tests for workers looking for jobs in the country will help limit those who apply with fake credentials from getting into the country, along with the other restrictions set by the state in terms of worker entry.

However, while all these are seemingly good plans, the government will still need to put in some work, through the help of concerned organizations or departments which handle the processing of workers in the country. Also, setting a committee that will oversee the professional standards of practice in the workplace will also benefit the companies that will put these into good and consistent use, or integrate them as part of the system.

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