Cairo: As many as 800 companies have been referred to investigations in Kuwait over suspected illegal trading in residency permits for foreigners in the past 18 months, a local newspaper has reported.
As a result, more than 60,000 foreigners, registered on these companies’ lists, have left the country, Al Qabas newspaper said, citing security sources.
The campaign on those fake employers covered the period from March 2020 till last September, the report said.
“Investigations revealed that those expats obtained residency through these bogus companies in return for paying them mon-ey and then working away from them,” a security source said.
The sources said there are “unequivocal and firm” instructions from authorities to show zero tolerance with illegal traders in residency permits.
“Inspections are under way targeting suspected companies and farms,” a source said, disclosing that farms are used as gate-ways for such dealers.
Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s total population of 4.6 million.
The country has in recent months sought to redress its demographic imbalance amid fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.