Manama: Foreigners who are staying illegally in Kuwait will be offered a grace period to regualrise their status, a local daily has reported.
Under the new window of opportunity, residency violators will be allowed to adjust their status either by leaving Kuwait without going through the fingerprinting process or by paying fines and staying in the country, Al Watan newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Expatriates who chose to leave the country without fingerprinting will keep the right to return to Kuwait through legal means.
The grace period, part of Kuwait's celebrations of National Day, Independence Day and the anniversary of the Emir's accession to power, is expected to start either at the end of February or in early March and will last three to four months, the daily said.
Officials from the immigration department and the social affairs and labour ministry as well as members of the parliamentary legal committee have started meetings over the issue.
They have reportedly agreed on a series of measures that will allow foreigners to adjust their status.
Details about the grace period conditions and timeframe will be published soon, the daily said, adding that most of the violators were Egyptians and Asians.
Kuwait is home to around 2.2 million foreigners out of a total population of 3.3 millions.
