The Ministry of Interior released a warning for all residents whose visit visas are no longer valid to clear up their residency status and to exit the country to be spared from legal repercussions, as shared in a report by the Kuwait Times.
(ALSO READ: [Update] Kuwait Visit Visa Validity Now up to 1 Month only, No more Extension)
As per the security information department of the ministry, the said procedure helps prevent expats from being subjected to restrictions on the renewal of their residency status. Furthermore, violators will be put into trial in court.
MoI Urges Foreigners with Visit Visa Violations to leave the Country
In line with this, the latest statistics report from the Residency Affairs department showed that there are about 2,862, 380 expats – 2,017,084 (70.5%) of which are male, and 844,296 (29.5%) are female who hold valid residency permits in the country. Furthermore, the data shared by the said department, under the leadership of Major General Abdullah- Al-Hajeri, revealed that the total number of workers under Article 17 residency permits (or those who hold government positions) is 107,887 – in which 68,577 (63.5%) are male, and 39.350 (36.5%) are female.
An official from the involved department disclosed that the estimated number of visa residency violators is almost at a 100,000. The Ministry of Interior is also considering a number of ways to limit this number, wherein one of the viable options is to carry out intensive operations to arrest violators and take legal actions against their sponsors, especially those who assisted foreigners to enter the country on visit visas but overstayed. With such initiatives being considered, the government hopes that citizens and sponsors would cooperate by not keeping these people in their custody as legal sanctions will also be applied to those found guilty of protecting these residency violators.
According to the department, a large part of the visa violators in the country are Asians, followed by Arabs (particularly Syrians), who are estimated to be at least 10,000 – 3,000 of whom arrived in Kuwait on family visit visas. Also, Indians represent the largest community living illegally in the country followed by Egyptians. (ALSO READ: Special Requirements for Special Visa Absence Permission)