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Kuwait sets new conditions for accepting Egyptian workers

December 7, 2022 at 4:10 pm

Kuwaiti Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah in Kuwait City, Kuwait. [Jaber Abdulkhaleg – Anadolu Agency]

The Kuwaiti government has imposed new conditions on Egyptian workers wishing to travel to the Gulf State following the suspension of the online process designed to regulate the recruitment of workers. The link was suspended by Kuwait’s Interior Minister on Monday. It was signed with Egypt in 2019.

According to Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas, unnamed sources said yesterday that the new conditions include a fee of $100 and a medical examination from specific health centres, as well as a number of other procedures.

Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled decided to suspend the link due to the lack of commitment by Egypt to one of the clauses of the process. “Cairo did not commit to establishing an electronic service for the exchange of information with Kuwait, based on the agreed requirements, which include the data of job seekers from the first party and those wishing to work in Kuwait, with the biographical data of the worker according to the professions and the required number.”

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There have apparently been concerns about fake employment and residence applications and offers. One of the anonymous sources told Al-Qabas that, “Recent transactions for contracts, work permits and visas for Egyptian workers have been audited to find out how they are related to real and not fake work, to combat trafficking in residency and stop a bulk and marginal labour force from entering Kuwait.”

In August it was reported that Kuwait was laying off 250,000 Egyptian workers, with another 500,000 to lose their jobs over the following twelve months in an effort by the government to reduce the state’s dependency on expatriate workers.

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