Over 400 illegal residents rounded up in 9-day Kuwait crackdown

Cairo: Kuwait has rounded up more than 400 expatriates for violating the country's residency and labour laws as part of an inexorable nationwide clampdown on illegal foreigners.

The arrests were made by the Kuwaiti residency affairs police during a massive security crackdown across the country's six governorates conducted in coordination with relevant authorities over nine days resulting in detaining 440 violators.

The raids covered residential areas, farms, and engineering companies operating in uninhabited areas across the country, a security source has disclosed.

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior said the April 30-May 9 campaigns were part of an integrated security plan aimed at controlling irregular workers and exposing illegal residents.

The ministry renewed a warning that its crackdown on illegals is ongoing across the country, and emphasized that violators and their employers will be held accountable.

Kuwait, a country of an overall population of 4.9 million people mostly foreigners, is seeking to redress its demographic imbalance and regulate the labour market.

Authorities there have recently mounted a nationwide crackdown on illegal foreign residents, who failed to take advantage of a three-month grace period to rectify their status. Thousands have since been rounded up.

The amnesty, which commenced in March last year, allowed illegal expatriates to readjust their residency status or leave willingly the country without paying fines.

During the grace period, irregular expatriates, who had no passports, were able to leave Kuwait without having to pay a fine and are allowed to re-enter the country.

A new residency law, which went into effect in Kuwait in January incorporating reconciliation and payment of fines by violators, does not apply to expatriates who failed to heed the amnesty deadline.

The new law licenses foreigners for regular residency for a period not exceeding five years, 10 years for real estate owners, and 15 years for investors.

The code also sets a foreigner's temporary stay at three months with possible extension for a period not exceeding one year.

Violating the temporary or regular residency or iqama rules is punishable by one year imprisonment and a fine of up to KD 1,200 (around $3,900).

Violating the visit residency rules is punishable by one year in prison and a maximum fine of KD2,000 dinars.