Over 2,700 expats deported from Kuwait

Cairo: Kuwait has deported 2,739 foreigners since early September, the Interior Ministry said, as part of a crackdown on illegal expatriates.

The deportees were found guilty of violating Kuwait’s labour and legal systems. They included 1,657 deported during September and 1,082 others deported over the period from October 1 to 17, the ministry added.

The deportations came upon directives from Kuwaiti Interior Minister Thamer Ali Sabah to expedite legal procedures against arrested illegal expatriates, the ministry said without providing a breakdown of the deportees’ nationalities.

Kuwait has repeatedly extended the grace period for illegal residents in the past months to allow time for them to legalise their status.

The Gulf country of around 4.6 million people mostly migrant workers, has recently sought to redress its demographic imbalance amid economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.