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Kuwaiti parliament mulls bill to reduce expat numbers by 2021
| Published: | 21 Dec at 6 PM |
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Tagged: India, Switzerland
If adopted, a draft law submitted by five members of the Kuwaiti parliament would reduce the number of expat workers in the emirate by 800,000.
According to the Kuwait Times, the bill calls for a higher national committee to oversee the reduction of expat numbers over five years, resulting in parity with the number of Kuwaiti national employees. At the present time, Kuwaiti employees account for just 30 percent of the overall population of 4.4 million, with some 1.3 million employed. Suggested exemptions from the proposed laws include workers in domestic service, contract workers on major projects and the children of Kuwaiti women married to foreigners.
Should the bill become law, after five years no single foreign community would be allowed to contain over 30 per cent of the total number of expats in Kuwait. According to calculations by the newspaper, Kuwaiti numbers five years from now are expected to reach around 1.6 million, meaning expat numbers will be forced to be equal. With the addition of numbers of exempted expat workers, the total is expected to be around 2.3 million. At that point, recruitment of foreigners would need to be suspended, cutting around 800,000 expats, mainly from the Egyptian and Indian expat communities.
The bill isn’t the first to be put forward, with another introduced last year, but shelved without discussion as the reduction of huge numbers of expat workers was considered a tricky task. However, many lawmakers believe Kuwait’s demographic imbalance gives political, economic and social risks and should be resolved.
Meanwhile in Qatar, recruitment of foreign workers is hopefully to be made easier by the hiring of a Swiss company to manage the process. The company’s branches worldwide already supply expat workers to Quatari projects, and will monitor all recruitment requirements including verification of certificates, medical check-ups and work contract signing.
Copies of the contracts will now be exchanged online, a move which is expected to avoid contract term changes, fake promises and the exploitation of employees by unfair practices. Doha Life reports the company will begin work from January, and will replace a number of manpower agencies recently closed down by Quatari officials.
According to the Kuwait Times, the bill calls for a higher national committee to oversee the reduction of expat numbers over five years, resulting in parity with the number of Kuwaiti national employees. At the present time, Kuwaiti employees account for just 30 percent of the overall population of 4.4 million, with some 1.3 million employed. Suggested exemptions from the proposed laws include workers in domestic service, contract workers on major projects and the children of Kuwaiti women married to foreigners.
Should the bill become law, after five years no single foreign community would be allowed to contain over 30 per cent of the total number of expats in Kuwait. According to calculations by the newspaper, Kuwaiti numbers five years from now are expected to reach around 1.6 million, meaning expat numbers will be forced to be equal. With the addition of numbers of exempted expat workers, the total is expected to be around 2.3 million. At that point, recruitment of foreigners would need to be suspended, cutting around 800,000 expats, mainly from the Egyptian and Indian expat communities.
The bill isn’t the first to be put forward, with another introduced last year, but shelved without discussion as the reduction of huge numbers of expat workers was considered a tricky task. However, many lawmakers believe Kuwait’s demographic imbalance gives political, economic and social risks and should be resolved.
Meanwhile in Qatar, recruitment of foreign workers is hopefully to be made easier by the hiring of a Swiss company to manage the process. The company’s branches worldwide already supply expat workers to Quatari projects, and will monitor all recruitment requirements including verification of certificates, medical check-ups and work contract signing.
Copies of the contracts will now be exchanged online, a move which is expected to avoid contract term changes, fake promises and the exploitation of employees by unfair practices. Doha Life reports the company will begin work from January, and will replace a number of manpower agencies recently closed down by Quatari officials.
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