I had been reading previous replies to similar questions but have been unable to find an answer to my question. I am an engineer (BSc Engineering) and was previously on my father’s sponsorship (Article 22 visa), later changed to an Article 18 “private” visa (have been on private visa for more than 2 years).

Now if I transfer to a government project visa and later decide to move back to a private visa even the government project has not been completed will I be able to make such transfer? (Private visa employer is different than the government project employer and later the private visa employer would be different than the government project employer.

In summary, all different companies). Some people say that as I am an engineer and was already in Kuwait and not employed from out of Kuwait, switching between government and private visas is not an issue.

Please give a quick reply so I can plan my move accordingly.

Name withheld Answer: It’s now not a question of what your work status is or how long you have spent with the firm on a government project visa…instead what is being considered is whether you were hired for the project from abroad or you joined the firm on a local transfer.

So everything is in your favor, as you are already in Kuwait and you are planning to join the government project on a local transfer. This means that you should not have any problems (and that too without having to leave the country) transferring back to a private sector but remember that you will have to work on this government project for at least a year before you can apply for a release.

We would like to bring the following to your attention. Over a year ago — in March 2015 — after issuing a similar verdict on Jan 11 of the same year, Manpower Public Authority Director Jamal Al-Dousary issued an administrative decision allowing expatriates working on government projects to transfer their visas from one sponsor to another.

This made things easy for only some of the expatriates but a lot of them misunderstand the situation and think that there is a blanket ban on transfer of government project visas But this is not the case and this is where a clarification comes into play and sets the ground rules for the transfers that are allowed.

Workers on government projects were in the past only allowed to transfer their visas to different companies but under the sponsorship of the same employer after the completion of their contracts. But now the new decision clarifies that laborers contracted locally from the private sector or transferring from dependent visas can transfer to other sponsors according to the previous conditions, which are:

1. Conclusion of the project’s tenure

2. Working for at least one year for the first sponsor 3. Getting the sponsor’s approval for transferring.

So, this makes it very clear that if you transferred to this project locally from another sponsor / company then your transfer is allowed. In the end, as a result of the above decision, we would again like to stress that as you will be joining the government project on a local transfer you should have no difficulty in transferring your residence back to the private sector after one year.