Kuwait: Expat quota bill discussed in parliament

Kuwait City: The head of the parliamentary human resources committee, Khalil Al Saleh, announced that the committee is almost done reviewing an expat quota bill, Al Rai media reported.

The proposal is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Justice and once it is ready it will be presented to the parliament floor for voting.

“The proposal, which focuses on reducing the number of expats without affecting the labour market, will be ready on Thursday,” Al Khalil told Al Rai media.

A parliamentary source told Al Rai that the demographic imbalance proposal put forth by the speaker of parliament, Marzouq Al Ghanim, along with four other MPs, was widely agreed upon by the human resources committee members as it took into account legal considerations and the effect that the bill will have on the labour market.

The proposal has been revised so that the quota does not affect nationality, rather that the number of expats working in a particular job do not exceed 20 per cent.

The source added that the bill also takes into consideration the need to gradually reduce the number of expats by hiring Kuwaitis to cover their jobs, in order to avoid confusion and chaos in the labour market.

In addition, an article within the draft law states that training centers should be set up to encourage Kuwaitis to work in some jobs.

Quota bill

This is not the first proposal that is being reviewed by the parliament in regards to reducing the number of expats in Kuwait.

In July, a proposal that was put forth suggested that the number of Indians in Kuwait should not exceed 15 per cent. The bill sparked fear within the Indian community, the largest foreign community in Kuwait, as it would have required 800,000 Indians to leave Kuwait.

Last month, several MPs along with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Mariam Al Aqeel, submitted proposals to the human resources committee.

The various proposals point out short and long term plans in regards to the demographic imbalance. Around 360,000 expats will be affected by the short term plans: illegal permit holders, expats over 60 and ‘marginal workers’.

Although anti-expat rhetoric has been on the rise, last month the National Assembly human resources committee said that a rapid reduction of expats could have a negative impact on the market’s purchasing power, the labor market, especially private sector, and the real estate market and private education market, according to Kuwait Times.

Demographic imbalance

Expats make up 70 per cent of the population in Kuwait, totaling around 3.4 million compared to the 1.4 Kuwaiti population. In recent weeks, there has been ongoing discussion regarding the demographic imbalance in Kuwait, as expats make up the majority of the population.

In June, the prime minister, Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah, proposed reducing the percentage of expats from 70 to 30 per cent.