2nd Iqama ring busted in Kuwait in a week

Cairo: Kuwait has said it arrested a six-member ring involved in illegally trading in iqamas or residency permits for expatriates, the second such gang detained in the country in less than a week.

The new ring is composed of Syrian and Egyptian nationals, who unlawfully brought foreign workers to Kuwait for fees ranging from KD350 to 1,000 per worker, the Interior Ministry said.

The suspects got "involved in trading in iqamas by setting up fake companies, using forgery and tampering with documents. They brought in several workers to the country in return for sums of money with the aim of illegal profiteering," the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier this week, Kuwaiti authorities announced arresting Syrian members of a similar ring who unlawfully registered and brought hundreds of workers to Kuwait through bogus, non-existing companies.

They claimed KD500 for internal labour transfer and KD2,000 for recruitment from abroad per worker.

The arrests were made as Kuwait is pressing ahead with a massive-scale clampdown on illegal expatriates.

Security crackdown on illegal residents

In recent weeks, Kuwait has mounted a security crackdown on illegal foreign residents, who failed to take advantage of a three-month grace period to rectify their status.

The amnesty, which commenced on March 17, allowed illegal expatriates to readjust their residency status or leave willingly the country without paying fines. The deadline ended on June 30.

Irregular expatriates, who had no passports, were able to leave Kuwait without having to pay a fine and re-enter the country.

The unlawful resident with no travel document was allowed to get a new one and use it for departure.

There are no official figures available on how many expats made use of the grace period.

The deported violators will also be banned from re-entering Kuwait for life and other GCC countries for five years.

Kuwait has an overall population of 4.8 million people including around 3.3 million foreigners.