Kuwait: The residency permits of almost 20,000 expatriates, working in Kuwait between March 10, 2020, and March 15, 2021, from twenty different countries expired as they remained outside of Kuwait due to travel restrictions prompted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, local media reported.
The Egyptians accounted for the largest population of expired residence permits, followed by the Indian community and then the Sri Lankan community.
Director general of residency affairs Brigadier Hamad Al-Tawala added that the government has passed an order under which Kuwait entry visas will not be issued without the approval of the ministerial committee for the emergency of the COVID-19.
“Accordingly, sponsors of expatriates whose residence permits have expired when they are out of the country must obtain approval from this committee for the issuance of entry visas,” he said. “Once they are admitted, they will get the residence permits requested by their sponsors,” he told Al Jarida newspaper.
The official added that expatriates living outside Kuwait for more than six months have been allowed to re-enter the country, while residence permits are still valid, as per the Gulf News.
During the first of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 140,000 expats left the Kuwaiti job market. 39 percent of those leaving the job market were domestic workers.
Many of them have lost their jobs as companies closed down permanently or reduced the number of employees due to financial constraints.