Kuwait restricts expatriate children’s residency

Cairo: Kuwait has decided to stop the transfer of residency permits of children of expatriates to their mothers amid vigorous efforts to redress the demographic imbalance in the country, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Qabas has reported.

The decision was made by the General Directorate of Residency banning such transfer in case of the father’s final exit from Kuwait, the expiry of his residency permit or his death, the paper said, quoting unidentified sources.

Relevant instructions were made to chiefs of the directorate’s affiliates in Kuwait’s six governorates, according to the sources.

Exceptions to the ban cover three categories: female teachers employed by the Education Ministry; female health care workers at the Health Ministry; and women doctors working at the General Directorate of Criminal Evidence. Those women only have the right to act as sponsors of their children. “The decision comes as part of arrangements to regulate foreigners’ stay in the country and aims at modifying the population structure,” a source said.

Likewise, children of expatriates, allowed to enter Kuwait on visit visas before the coronavirus crisis, will no longer be allowed to be transferred as residents to their fathers’ residency permits, the same sources said.

Foreigners account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s 4.8 million population.

There have been increasing calls in Kuwait to redress the demographic imbalance, prompting several government bodies to disclose plans to minimise numbers of their expatriate employees.