Kuwait renews 4,500 expat teachers’ iqamas

Cairo: Kuwaiti authorities have renewed iqamas or residency permits of around 4,500 teachers working in government schools under a new decentralised system launched last month, a local newspaper reported.

Passport departments at the country’s six education zones finalised renewals for those teachers starting from June 17, Al Jarida quoted education sources as saying.

The teachers’ transactions were handled according to appointments they had obtained electronically beforehand, the sources added.

“Fifty teachers are received per day during the week. The Interior Ministry has designated three usernames for personnel at the education departments for conducting the renewal transactions,” they said.

The Education Ministry has recently got approval of the Interior Ministry to renew its schoolteachers for two years instead of one year, according to the sources.

Under the new decentralised system, the Education Ministry has transferred authority to renew non-Kuwaiti teachers’ iqamas from the ministry’s general directorate to education departments.

Decentralisation of iqama renewal aims to ensure smooth work and conducting of transactions at a time when foreign teachers want to travel to their home countries to spend the summer holiday, Al Qabas newspaper reported last month.

No official figures have been provided about the number of expatriate teachers who will benefit from the new system.

Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.6 million.