Kuwait updates health rules for expatriates

Cairo: Kuwait has updated preventive health measures for its large community of expatriates.

According to the update, a foreign newcomer to the country applying for a residency permit or iqama is considered physically unfit if a hepatitis C examination shows an “indeterminate” result and as such he/she is not eligible to take a PCR test.

But if a resident expatriate undergoes two hepatitis C tests with at least four weeks in between and they prove “indeterminate”, he/she is allowed to take a PCR test. In case the PCR proves positive, he/she then will be deemed physically unfit.

But if the result is negative, he/she will be allowed to have the residency permit renewed for one year after which a new PCR test will be conducted.

If the latest test proves negative, he/she will be considered physically fit.

Tightening health monitoring

Kuwaiti Minister of Health Ahmed Al Awady has endorsed the new rules, media reports said. The ministry said the step is part of updating regulations and tightening health monitoring to protect the safety of citizens and expatriates in Kuwait.

It is not clear yet when the new regulations will take effect.

Obtaining an official certificate, stating that the holder is free of contagious diseases, is a prerequisite for issuing the iqama for the expatriates in Kuwait.

Foreigners constitute around 3.2 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.8 million.

Toughening measures against illegal residents

Kuwait has recently toughened measures against illegal foreign residents and warned that any expatriate sheltering an unlawful resident will be deported too.

Illegal residents in Kuwait are estimated at 150,000. Kuwaiti individuals or companies employing illegals face charges of unlawfully sheltering and covering up illegals. The country is seeking to redress its demographic imbalance and replace foreign workers with its citizens as part of an employment policy dubbed “Kuwaitisation”.