KUWAIT CITY, Nov 21: The acting director of the Public Authority for Manpower, Dr. Mubarak Al-Azmi, said 2,883 residence and labor laws violators were arrested during inspections carried out by the PAM Inspection Department from the beginning of January until the end of last October, reports Al-Jarida daily. Those arrested included marginal workers working for others rather than their sponsors while others did not carry any ID cards. Al-Azmi told the daily 1,605 of those arrested were holders of Visa Article No 18 (working in the private sector) companies, farms, small and medium enterprises, and government projects) and 1,224 domestic workers from Article (20) who had run away from their employers in addition to 35 workers on family visa Article (22), and 19 registered in the government sector Article (17).

He pointed out that the files of business owners and companies registered with this labor will be suspended, and they will be slapped with the code 73 until it is confirmed that those arrested are deported from the country. The companies will be re-inspected to ensure their commitment to employing their labor, indicating that with regard to domestic labor, they are referred to the General Administration of Residence Affairs Investigation in the Ministry of the Interior, to take legal measures against the arrested worker and deported from the country.

Al-Azmi denied, in a press statement, the existence of any types of preventing the issuance of work permits for any nationality, with the exception of owners of mechanisms and special procedures issued by the Ministry of Interior, stressing that the rest of the permits are issued naturally through the regular legal cycle through electronic systems and automatic linking between related government agencies. Al-Azmi stressed that countries that do not comply with the requirements of Kuwait’s laws, internal regulations, and notes sent to them will face measures that amount to preventing the recruitment of their workers to avoid infringement on their rights, indicating that the Authority’s employees follow up all procedures for bringing in new workers, to ensure that they achieve full legal protection from the moment they sign contracts until they get to work.

Al-Azmi stated that the authority, and as part of its efforts aimed at regulating the labor market and protecting the rights of workers, is following up on the implementation by some countries of Kuwait’s observations regarding violations of the recruitment mechanism in some labor agencies and internal offices, as “new contracts and work permits are periodically audited through a new mechanism that has been approved by labor departments.