Kuwait scraps 182,393 visas as Covid-led travel ban forced people to stay away

KUWAIT CITY: The residency permits of 182,393 expatriates, working in Kuwait, have become invalid for overstaying abroad due to travel restrictions prompted by the global coronavirus pandemic, according to a Kuwait official.

The figure covers the period from March 12 last year until January 10 of this year.

Director-General of Residency Affairs Brig. Hamad Al Tawalah added that the government has adopted a decree whereby no entry visa to Kuwait is issued without approval from a ministerial committee for coronavirus emergencies. “Accordingly, sponsors of expatriates whose residency permits have expired while they are outside the country must get approval from this committee for the issuance of entry visas. Following their entry, they will be granted residency permits requested by their sponsors,” he told Al Jarida newspaper.

The official added that expatriates who have been outside Kuwait for more than six months are permitted to re-enter the country while their residency permits are still valid.

He disclosed that 69,427 illegal foreign residents have taken advantage of a deadline to readjust their status since last April until December 31.

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Last month, Kuwait extended the deadline for visa violators by one more month to end on March 2, the latest such a grace period offered by authorities in the Gulf country.

In December, Kuwait extended by one month the deadline for illegal residents to legalise their situation after it was originally due to expire on November 30.

Illegal residents registered at the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry are estimated at 186,000 from different nationalities. The virus-related curbs have increased their numbers.