Long-term resident of Kuwait under the sponsorship of a private company wants to know the requirements, procedure and the contacts for self-sponsorship.Name withheld Answer: You are talking about Article 24 of the Kuwait Residence Law which allows self-sponsorship under various conditions.This article has been put on hold for a while until the National Assembly approves the new proposal in this regard … well it’s already been over three years since the proposal for a new law on the subject was sent to the Assembly and it seems it is not a priority since it has never been on the weekly agenda.In view of the latest moves to cut down the number of expatriates in Kuwait and to ensure the health system in Kuwait is not overburdened it has become less important but you never know … it could be taken up some day.Initially it was used only for expatriates with trades which required special skills like tailor, barber, carpenter etc but even this was stopped many years ago( although the people who got this residence years ago ensure it doesn’t expire).Now again talk has started to allow expatriates to sponsor themselves. The conditions being mentioned are that the expatriate should have spent at least 25 years (continuously) in the country, should be over 60 years, have at least KD 10,000 in the bank, should have a crimefree stay in the country and should have been owning a business for at least two years or earning at least KD 500 per month… this is in addition to having high academic qualifications.The expatriate who gets sponsorship under this article will be allowed to sponsor his family and also domestic servants. Having said all the above, implementation of the above article is very rare for one obvious reason — a lot of changes have been made to this article and as such this article needs to be again passed by the National Assembly if self-sponsorship is to be allowed under the above conditions. So, all you can do is wait for the new (reconditioned) article to be passed … until then you could try and get self-sponsorship if you are from one of the above trades.This residence is granted by the Ministry of Interior (through the Immigration Department from whom the relevant applications can be obtained).Current procedure (changes awaited):1. Fill in the residence application and sign it2. Attach copy of the entrance visa on your passport when you entered Kuwait for the first time3. Attach a health certificate which certifies that you are free of any disease4. Attach 2 photographs with blue background5. Attach original passport6. Provide proof that you can support yourself7. Submit to the Ministry of Interior (through the Immigration Department in your area) Send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]