Kuwait considers banning expats from public sector jobs

A special report on adjusting Kuwait’s population has reportedly recommended suspending the recruitment of expats in the public sector.

Local publication Al-Rai cited sources at the Supreme Planning Council’s secretariat general as saying expats should be suspended from public sector roles with the exception of those requiring rare specialisations.

Other recommendations included stricter policies relating to absconders, travel bans and deportation and the building of labour cities to house expats in order to control the population.

Six locations have been suggested for these cities, with two said to be already built.

The sources also called for limiting the number of marginal expat labourers and recruiting only skilled and experienced expat workers.

Expats make up an estimated 70 per cent of the country’s 4.3 million population.

The Kuwaiti government has been seeking to rebalance the population, with recent measures including a higher minimum salary requirement to issue workers with family visas.

Read: Kuwait raises minimum salary requirement for family visas

It has also been considering a number of measures including deporting expats that lose their job.

Read: Kuwait considers deporting expats that lose their job

The country was recently ranked the worst in the world for expats in a survey by InterNations.

Read: Kuwaiti official criticises ‘worst nation for expats’ ranking