6,715 violators of residence law in private sector: statistics

KUWAIT CITY, July 3: The statistics issued by the Ministry of Interior and the Central Administration of Statistics revealed the cancellation of 102,000 residence permits of expatriates who have been working in the civil and government sectors since 2015 until the end of last year, reports Al-Qabas daily.

The statistics showed that the number of expatriate in the government sector declined by 2,501 in 2018, an increase of 671 residence permits canceled than in 2017.

In contrast, the number of cancellations dropped to 15,734 last year, compared with 16,141 in 2017, where Asian workers accounted for 63% of the total, while Arab expatriates accounted for 32% of the total number of cancellations.

In the public sector, the rate of cancellation of residence permit for Arab expatriates was 1,769 cases representing 70% in 2018, while the number of Arab workers leaving the government sector during the four years 5,401 expatriates.

The statistics showed that the total number of current residence under Article 18 for employment in the private sector amounted to 1,531,000, of which 957,000 were Asian workers and 549,000 are from Arab countries, while the other figures are distributed among the African, European, North and South American, Australian and other countries.

The statistics show a clear decline in the number of employees in the government sector at 2,588 against the total registered new arrivals under Article 17 to about 108,000, which is the smallest number compared with the numbers recorded between 2015 and 2018.

The total number of expatriates from Arab countries is 53%, with a total of 57,124, followed by 47,754 Asians, 492 Africans and the lowest was from Australian and Pacific regions with only 58.

The statistics pointed out that there are 6,715 expatriates violators of the residence law in the private sector including 2,354 Arabs, 3,721 Asian, 11 Africans and 7 Europeans.

The government agencies do not lag behind on this issue registering 94 cases in 2018, down from 2017, which recorded 119 cases of expatriate residence permits.

The Arab expatriates represent the highest number of offenders in the government sector with a total of 66 violators, followed by Asians in 21 cases. Statistics show high figures for violators of the residency law, especially in the category of ‘temporary residence’ Article 14, where it was found that 8,408 expatriates, 57% of whom are Asians, followed by Arabs with 3,000 cases. The number of those who obtained free employment under “Article 19”, was the lowest in number of residency law violators.