The General Department of Public Relations and Security Media at the Ministry of Interior disclosed that the surprise campaign launched at Naga’at Al-Shamlan in Kuwait City has led to the arrest of 28 violators of the residency law.
According to authorities, the surprise campaign was conducted by the Acting Security Commander, Operations Director, and patrol teams with the cooperation of the General Department of Coast Guard. Residents who do not update their residency status through the Ministry of Interior by getting a Civil ID will be held liable to the law and may be punished severely during their stay in the country.
Illegal Foreign Residents Nabbed in Surprise Campaign in Kuwait
In a report shared by the Arab Times Online, the arrested individuals included two men who were caught intoxicated, four residency violators, and five individuals with expired residency and 19 individuals without their civil ID cards.
According to the press release shared by the department, the arrested individuals have been referred to the concerned authorities for necessary legal action. The department announced that campaigns will be held round-the-clock in all six governorates of Kuwait, urging citizens and residents to avoid providing shelter to violators of law and those wanted for crimes in order to avoid being held legally accountable to the law.
In other related news, the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has canceled 56,000 work permits, which have expired while the holders were out of the country. The campaign was launched by the department after checking their data in the Ministry of Interior.
In an official announcement, PAM explained that it has initiated this step based on Article 35 of the bylaw and procedures on granting work permit as stipulated in decision number 552/2018 which allows the authority to cancel the permit in many cases, such as follows:
- if the worker has been out of the country for six consecutive months unless authorized by the Residency Affairs General Department,
- if the permit expires while the worker is out of the country, and/or
- if the worker is deported for any reason.
Kuwait laws require all foreign nationals to update their civil ID records in lieu of residency stickers (iqama), which was aimed to streamline the process of record-keeping and data protection in the country. However, there had been several reports that expats leaving or returning to the country had been denied by airport authorities in other countries, for the reason that the new system has not been properly and officially relayed to become part of international protocols recognized by international facilities all over the world.
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