Cairo: Around 1,000 foreign violators of Kuwait’s residency law have been arrested in the past three weeks in a relentless security clampdown launched against illegal residents and outlaws, a Kuwaiti newspaper has reported.
Around 400 others registered as absentees and 42 persons wanted in connection to criminal cases were also nabbed, Al Qabas added, citing what it termed as well-informed sources.
The security crackdown is set to go ahead throughout the country, according to the sources. “The security establishment knows well when the campaigns continue and when they end,” the sources added without elaborating.
Kuwait has repeatedly extended the grace period for illegal foreign residents to readjust their status.
In May, Kuwaiti newspaper Al Anba reported that authorities are likely to impose penalties on sponsors of foreigners who came to the country on visit visas and have not left in violation of rules.
The penalties could include a two-year ban on those sponsors for obtaining any sponsorship visas, according to the report.
Reports show that some 14,650 foreigners have entered Kuwait on visit visa in the past three years and have not left for their home countries, swelling illegal expatriates in Kuwait, the paper quoted an unidentified source as saying at the time.
The Gulf country seeks to redress its demographic imbalance amid fallout from the COVID-19.
Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.6 million.
