Deportation fate of expats who did not benefit from amnesty

KUWAIT CITY, June 1: In a surprising or rather shocking revelation, informed security sources said 120,000 residency law violators registered in the systems of Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Social Affairs will not be able to renew their residency even if they pay fines, which amount to about KD 72 million.

They affirmed that the fate of these expatriates is nothing but deportation, no matter how long they disappear and remain hiding in the country.

The sources explained that the names of these violators have been blacklisted in the system because they failed to present themselves to the concerned authority during the one-month amnesty granted by the government in April as a humanitarian gesture to allow them to leave the country without paying the fines and bearing the cost of travel, as well as allowing them to return to the country legally.

However, these violators brushed off the repeated warnings and numerous appeals launched by the Ministry of Interior urging them to take advantage of the deadline.

After studying the details of these violators, it was discovered that most of them have been living in the country illegally for many years.

They had ignored similar amnesties in the past, determined to stay in the dark and illegally out of the sight of security apparatus. These 120,000 violators belong to more than 15 nationalities around the world.

The Indian community leads with about 30,000 violators, followed by the Bangaldeshi community with 25,000, then Egyptians with 20,000, Sri Lankans with 12,000, Filipinos with 10,000, Syrians with 9,000, Ethiopians with 8,000, Pakistanis with 4,000, Indonesians with 4,000 and the rest from other nationalities.

The fines owed by them are estimated at about KD 72 million. Each violator is supposed to pay a flat amount of KD 600 regardless of the length of the violation period that passed after reaching that amount.

However, the sources indicated that there are about 15,000 residency violators who are eligible to renew their residencies despite not benefiting from the amnesty due to restrictions imposed on them such as travel ban or pending lawsuit at the judiciary, among other acceptable reasons.