Cairo: More than 65,000 illegal expatriates in Kuwait have benefitted from a three-month deadline introduced earlier this year for unlawful residents to readjust their status or face deportation, a senior Kuwaiti security official has said.
Chief of the General Directorate for Residency Affairs at the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry Brig Yussuf Al Ayoub added that the illegal expats arrested after the expiration of the deadline in late June were deported from the country and will not be allowed to re-enter it. He put their number at around 4,650.
“The ministry is going ahead with inspection campaigns in all governorates to arrest violators of the residency law,” he told the Kuwaiti news agency Kuna.
“Any arrested violator who is found to be involved in criminal cases other than absenteeism (from work) or violating the residency law is referred to competent agencies to take the necessary measures.” Meanwhile, sponsors of violators would be blocked from recruiting overseas workers.
Kuwaiti authorities have stepped up a massive-scale crackdown on foreign violators who failed to take advantage of the amnesty since the deadline expired on June 30.
The amnesty, which commenced on March 17, allowed illegal expatriates to readjust their residency status or leave willingly the country.
Irregular expatriates, who had no passports, were able to leave Kuwait without having to pay a fine and will be allowed to re-enter the country.
The unlawful resident with no travel document was allowed to get a new one issued and use it for departure.
The deported violators will also be banned from re-entering Kuwait for life and other GCC countries for five years, media reports said.
