Absconding workers lose residency within 60 days – ‘Abuse’ over expat drivers deportation Saturday, September 14, 2013 - Kuwait Times KUWAIT: An expatriate worker reported missing by his or her employer will have their visa canceled automatically within two months unless they resolve their condition during that period according to new instructions released by the Immigration General Department in the Ministry of Interior. This was reported by Al-Qabas yesterday quoting a security source familiar with the instructions which he said came “following meetings with labor department officials at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor”. As per the instruction, a letter is sent to the Immigration General Department 60 days after a worker is reported missing at the relevant labor department. Based on that letter, the worker’s residency will automatically be canceled and they will become fugitives in front of law. Once a worker is arrested, he or she will automatically be deported regardless of whether the sponsor wanted to drop the case or not. The source defended the procedure as being a protection for workers from fabricated reports. “Since MSAL investigations indicate that the majority of missing reports are made-up, the 60 days period provides the worker enough time to settle their situation with their sponsor before having the visa canceled”, he said. The new instructions also include limiting procedures regarding absconding cases to labor departments with- in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, as well as the Immigration General Department of the Ministry of Interior. In other news, General Director of the Immigration General Department, Brig Gen Adnan Al-Kandari, informed directors of individual immigration departments at the country’s six governorates with new instructions to limit issuance of commercial visas to foreigners with high academic qualifications. According to sources with knowledge of the case, the new procedure went underway Thursday as any application for a person without a university degree is automatically rejected. Separately, a parliament member demanded more control to prevent random deportation of expatriate drivers over traffic offenses, indicating that ‘abuse of power’ when it comes to law enforcement is ‘unacceptable’. “While traffic campaigns supervised by the Interior Ministry’s Assistant Undersecretary for Traffic Affairs Abdullfattah Al-Ali achieved positive results such as reducing traffic accidents and injuries as well as collecting large amounts of fines, these results must not be used to overshadow human rights violations practiced against expatriates”, MP Rakan Al-Nisf said in a statement Thursday. The lawmaker further indicated that the Major General’s work should be “as part of a systematic approach in order to ensure its continuity so that control is retained at Kuwait’s roads”. On the other hand, he insisted that law enforcement must not involve humiliation or abuse of power in any shape or form. “A policeman’s behavior sets the image for the country to expatriates, and the role model image for citizens, especially when it comes to optimal law enforcement”, he said. The General Traffic Department launched extensive campaigns last April that so far have resulted in thousands of traffic tickets issued, millions of Kuwaiti Dinars collected in fines, as well as thousands of expatriate drivers deported while firmer penalties were enforced against Kuwaiti offenders. No timetable is set for the end of campaigns whereas Maj Gen Al-Ali has repeatedly indicated that crackdowns will continue as part of the department’s efforts to reduce traffic jams, curb the number of road fatalities and fight traffic offenses. Maj Gen Al-Ali had frequently assured that expatriates deported had a history of repeated serious violations, but that failed to stop complaints and criticisms stemming from depriving a driver the right of litigation. Furthermore, swift deportation of offending drivers as well as illegal residents arrested in crackdowns that went in parallel with the traffic campaigns have raised concerns that the measures could be unannounced procedures as part of a plan that Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thekra Al-Rashidi announced last March to deport 100,000 foreigners every year, and that as part of a strategy to cut the Gulf state’s expatriate community by one million within a decade. Kuwait is home to 2.6 million expatriates who make 68 percent of the country’s 3.8 million population.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Sep 2013 18:31:05 +0000
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