Please help me with info on our passports. I’m a local hire in Kuwait on Visa 18 (work permit). All I know is that an employer or company are not allowed to hold and keep our passports. It should be  with us. It is clear that our company is violating the Kuwait law? Is this correct and what can we do?

Name withheld
Answer: You are right. Companies are not allowed to hold passports of their employees because these are personal documents but unfortunately most of them do and there is nothing employees can do about it as they face the threat of losing their jobs.

But some employees do take a stand and get their passports, even through the courts. The company then keeps quiet for a while and then sacks the employee on some other pretext, not linked to the passport. In such cases even the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor can’t do anything.

So, this is all upto individuals, the more demand for passports, the fewer companies will keep them and soon they could be made to follow the law. It is all up to the staff.