Grace period for illegal foreign residents extended in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY: The Kuwait government has extended the grace period for illegal expatriates by an additional month that was due to expire on Thursday.

The Kuwaiti Interior Minister Thamer Al Ali issued a decree for the extension of a grace period for illegal foreign residents till mid-May.

It read that the illegal expatriates should apply for readjusting their status during the new extension period in order to avoid strict penalties.

The authorities said that strict penalties will be imposed on those who failed to readjust their status which includes denial of residency permission, deportation from the country and a ban on re-entry, Gulf News reported.

The latest decree was issued to grant more time for illegal foreign residents to legalise their status and avoid related penalties.

According to the report, Kuwait has given no specific number of illegal residents, however, the estimated number of visa violators was about 100,000 last year.

The country has extended the grace period for the illegal residents multiple times in the past months which started from March last year following the global COVID-19 outbreak.