Kuwait’s Education Ministry halts visa transfer to private sector

Dubai: The Kuwaiti Ministry of Education has announced its employees will not be allowed to transfer their residence visas to the private sector, local media reported.

Although the ministry’s employees are barred from transferring over to the private sector, four groups of people are exempt from the transfer ban. They include husbands and children of Kuwaiti women and wives of Kuwaiti men, as well as those who were born in Kuwait.

Also exempt are Palestinians with travel documents and technical professionals working in the health sector who are licenced by the Ministry of Health to practice medical activities.

The ministry’s move follows a decision issued earlier by the Public Authority for Manpower on the ban of transferring government workers to the private sector.

The decision to ban transferring government employees to the private sector comes within the government’s plan to dismiss 50 per cent of expats working in the public sector.

The plan to reduce the number of expats working in the public sector is part of a governmental policy known as Kuwaitisation, which aims to shift the workforce balance so that the majority of jobs are held by Kuwaitis.

The majority of expats work in the private sector as only 10 per cent of the 1.4 million population work in the public sector.