‘Visitors to Kuwait time is up’

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 30: Approximately 130,000 violators of the residence law or those whose residence permit expired on Jan 1, 2020, are entitled to benefit from the time limit granted by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anas Al- Saleh, to adjust their status by paying the fines or leave Kuwait after paying fines but without being referred to the investigation authorities, reports Al-Anba daily.

The source indicated this is the last time the Ministry of Interior has given expatriates a kind of amnesty before organizing a series of security campaigns and take a set of measures to pursue these violators and deport them. The source said the names of those arrested will be blacklisted and barred from entering the country again.

The source pointed out the residence departments in the six governorates of Kuwait have received instructions from the Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Residence Affairs, Major-General Anwar Al-Barjas, to start receiving violators of residence law as of Tuesday to help them amend their status after paying the fines.

In response to a question regarding those who arrived on visit visas and were given until Nov 30, 2020, to leave the country, the source said they can leave the country before the stroke of midnight tonight (Nov 30). If they leave after this date, they will be obliged to pay a fine of two dinars per day.

The source emphasized that there is no intention to extend the departure date for those on visit visas, pointing out that the ministerial decision that was issued to automatically extend the visits of these people for more than once came due to the circumstances the world went through, because of the spread of the Corona pandemic and since many countries had closed their airspace.

The source added, the ‘visitors’ had more than 7 months to leave and there is no justification for their continuation, and if they do not leave at the end of the day, they will not be allowed to enter again, and measures will be taken against their sponsors, including stopping granting them visit visas again.

The source added, if the violators of the residence law are unwilling to pay the fines will not be compensated but will be administratively deported when they are caught during security checks. However, the cost of travel will have to be borne by their sponsors if they were not reported ‘absconding’.