KUWAIT CITY, April 5: Acting Director General of the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) Marzouq Al-Otaibi recently issued a circular approving the implementation of the procedures regarding the academic qualifications and professions of migrant workers, those from other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Bedoun workers in terms of the issuance, renewal, and amendment of various types of work permits at labor departments through the Ashal portal for employers or the Sahel Business app.

The Alseyassah/Arab Times obtained a copy of the circular; stating that the workers’ academic qualifications have three determinants: educational level like doctorate, master’s, bachelor’s or diploma; field of specialization like Commercial Law or Biochemistry; and status of the qualification like unrecognized, preliminary recognition, administrative recognition or accreditation based on the Ministry of Higher Education equivalency.

The manual stipulates that the employees’ duties include verifying the compatibility between the field of specialization and profession specified in the application, while the educational level and accreditation status are verified through the automated system. The academic qualification attachment is verified only if the system requires the employer to upload it along with the work permit-related application.

For engineering professions, approvals are verified automatically through the system. Applications that do not have the required approval are automatically rejected. An electronic attachment is automatically added to the application to confirm that the employee received approval. For non-engineering professions that require prior approval for permit and work permit services, the employer is required to upload a copy of the approval as an attachment to the application.

Several services are automatically accredited. These include renewing work permits for expatriates, renewing work permits for Gulf nationals and renewing work permits for those residing legally in Kuwait; provided the renewal is for the same profession. These services do not require attachment of approvals or academic qualifications to the application.

By Fares Al-Abdan Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff