Kuwait stops issuing visas for expats’ parents

Kuwait has stopped issuing dependency visas for parents of expats living in the country, an official from the Ministry of Interior was quoted as saying in Kuwait Times.

Assistant undersecretary for citizenship and passport affairs major general Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah said that dependency visas will continue to be issued for expats’ spouses and children.

He also said that the government will be reforming the validity of family visit visas granted to expats.

Visit visas for a person’s wife and children will now be valid for three months while those issued for other relatives will be valid for a month, he said.

The Ministry of Interior’s official website does not mention the current validity of family visit visas.

All visitors will also now be required to enter Kuwait within a month after the visa is issued, the government said. Previously a visit visa was valid for three months after being issued by the ministry.

Jarrah added that Kuwait’s interior minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Sabah is likely to review a proposal on increasing fees on expats. However he did not clarify whether the fees were the charges on visas or other extra costs.

Kuwait, like some other GCC countries, has taken a number of measures to limit its expat population.

The Gulf Arab country is looking to introduce stringent measures to fix what it calls imbalances in its population.

Earlier this year, the Kuwaiti cabinet ruled that it would maintain its existing expatriate population, and allow foreigners into the country only to replace those leaving, according to media reports.

According to official figures, Kuwaitis currently make up just over 31 per cent of the country’s population. But lawmakers and government officials have been worried about a demographic imbalance and have periodically launched crackdowns on illegal residents in the country.

Last year, MP Khalil Abdullah stated that the Gulf state should deport 280,000 expatriates per year for the next five years.

“Since we have 2.5 million expatriates, we need to bring the number down to 1.1 million in the next five years, which means we need to reduce their numbers by 280,000 every year,” local daily Al Rai quoted him as saying.