I, am an engineer, hired from abroad for a government project and have completed 2 years in the country. Due to the prevailing manpower cuts in the company, I have started searching for jobs in the private or public sectors. What are the possibilities of my visa getting transferred.

Name withheld

Answer: You can’t get a transfer to the private sector but you will be able to transfer to another government project of the same sponsor or to another government project of a different sponsor if your current project has been completed.

We would like to add that there is a KD 300 fee for transfer from one government project, on its completion, to another government project which has a different sponsor.

If you want to transfer to another government project of the same sponsor the fee will be KD 200.

Now, here is another possibility. You can pay KD 350 to transfer your work permit, if you are on a government project, to the main file of the same sponsor. This would mean that you could land, if the sponsor wanted in a private sector firm in this way