WhatsApp Facebook Twitter Email Messenger

       KUWAIT RESUMES ISSUING VISAS, ALLOWS FAMILY REUNION

       LIVE

       An error occurred. Please try again later

       Tap to unmute

       Learn more

       Advertisement

       KUWAIT CITY, Nov 6, (Agencies): The Board of Directors of the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) recently formed a committee tasked to review the current work permit renewal fees as it intends to increase these fees, reports Al-Qabas daily. This came after the board repealed Resolution No. 520 of 2020 on prohibiting the issuance of new work permits for expatriates who have reached 60 years old and above with high school certificates or below.

       Sources told the daily: “It is expected that fees for services and transactions which the authority provides to expatriates will increase by 500 percent, especially since the fees that Kuwait collects from expatriates is considered the lowest among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.” In addition, the board, headed by Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Abdullah Al-Salman, formed a committee under the Legal Advice and Legislation Department to oversee the legal drafting of the manpower related decisions, including raising fees which will most probably be issued in 2022, in order to avoid contravening laws, local and international treaties.

       Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior declared on Saturday resuming issuance of entry visas and allowing family union according to standing rules. The ministry, in a statement, said that the department of residency affairs, in all governorates, would receive applications for the visas and family assembly, noting that the applicant must in advance book a show-up date on the MoI website. Children aged lower than 16 are eligible to join the family in Kuwait according to the terms namely the set salary.

       Measures

       Commercial visas cover all kinds of businesses in line with the relevant regulations. Those for the government are applicable to all public ministries and public authorities. As to the E. visas, they would be according to effective measures and rules with respect of special services. Those to be allowed in must present certificates proving that their had been vaccinated twice with the vaccines approved in Kuwait (Pfizer, AstraZeneca Oxford and Moderna) or had taken the jab once of Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

       Meanwhile, the authorities will continue issuing visas for house helpers. The decision issued by the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) during its meeting Thursday which was headed by Minister of Commerce and Industry who is also PAM Chairman of Board of Directors to cancel the earlier decision 520/2020 which was issued by the ‘suspended’ PAM director-general Ahmed Mouse which forbid renewing the work permits of non-graduate expatriates 60 years and above drew mixed reactions because according to the new decision this category of people must pay 500 dinars as renewal fee in addition to health insurance costing between 500 and 750 dinars, reports Al-Anba daily.

       Some citizens and residents told Al- Anba the decision is unfair and must be reconsidered, taking into account the living conditions of a majority of expatriates. The daily visited the Mubarakiya Market, one of the oldest and prime markets in Kuwait for people’s reactions. Fahd Al-Marri said that the decision is good and deserves to be commended, pointing out that most of the developed countries impose fees for services they provide to residents in the form of health insurance, roads and services of various kinds, pointing out that the fees are reasonable and any expatriate can afford to pay.

       WhatsApp Facebook Twitter Email Messenger