KUWAIT CITY, June 30: The Ministry of Interior will start implementing a comprehensive security plan at dawn on Monday to arrest Residency Law violators who did not take advantage of the grace period granted to them to either leave the country or amend their status, reports Al-Rai daily. It can be recalled that the grace period lasted for more than three months due to the decision to extend it until the end of June in compliance with the directives of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense and Interior Sheikh Fahad Yousuf Al-Sabah. Approximately 35,000 violators have either regularized their status or left the country, while about 85,000 remain. The source emphasized that the possibility of another deadline extension is not under consideration.

In a previous interview with the daily, Assistant Director of the Residency Affairs General Department Brigadier General Mazyad Al-Mutairi warned that “no violator will escape” once the extended deadline ends. He said the campaign will cover all governorates, with clear directives to be firm in dealing with violators who were given the golden opportunity to leave the country or amend their status for almost four months. Security personnel and patrols from the Residency Affairs Investigations, Criminal Investigations, Public Security and Rescue Services departments will participate in the campaign while the Special Forces will provide support and reinforcement if the need arises.

The campaign will be carried out around the clock. Regarding those who will be arrested, the Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the embassies of concerned countries are currently coordinating the issuance of travel documents for the deportation of violators immediately after taking legal measures, in addition to taking their fingerprints to permanently prevent them from entering the country again. In this context, the concerned authorities will take the necessary action against anyone who harbors violators. They said this will result in legal accountability and bearing the expenses of the violators like the ticket and the fees paid by the sponsor when he recruited the worker.