The Kuwaiti government is reportedly studying plans to immediately deport any worker who loses his job, as officials revealed that around 41,000 expats have been asked to leave the country since January 2015.
A source told Arabic daily Alanba that an estimated 26,600 migrants were deported last year as part of efforts to dramatically reduce the number of expats in the country, who are thought to make up 70 percent of the population.
“This is the highest number of expatriates to be deported from Kuwait in decades,” the source was quoted as saying.
Kuwait is also mulling plans to force foreign workers to immediately leave the country if they are sacked, according to Kuwait Times.
Under current legislation, a worker who loses his job has three months to find another one. If he fails to find one within this timeframe, he is deported.
However, the Supreme Council for Planning and Development is understood to be studying a report that claims allowing expats to remain in Kuwait hampers efforts to adjust the country’s demographic imbalance.
The report proposes deporting a sacked worker as soon as he leaves his job. Under the proposal, he would only be entitled to his financial claims once he terminates his residency visa and leaves the country.
According to an unnamed source, the report argues that if an expat is fired, it is because his employer no longer needs his services and therefore his stay in Kuwait “puts further pressure on public services”.
The newspaper did not say whether the plans apply to public or private sector workers.
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