Authority Said To Seek Surety On Every Employee Entering Kuwait Service Charges On Transactions In Private Sector Likely To Rise KUWAIT CITY, Dec 25: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, and the State Minister for Planning and Development Affairs Hind Al-Sabeeh was recently quoted as saying a ‘complete study’ will be referred to the Cabinet next week concerning charges for completion of transactions in the private sector compared to the charges in the other GCC nations,” reports Al-Rai daily In her statement, Al-Sabeeh indicated increase in service charges in the private sector was necessary over the next period because of the initiatives undertaken by the Public Authority for Manpower, such as the launch of an electronic portal. Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Public Authority for Manpower Jamal Al-Dosari said, the authority intends to obtain surety (bank guarantee) from every employee entering Kuwait, and that the guarantee money will be returned to the sponsor after the employee leaves the country. With regards to opening doors for work permits for all categories which was to happen at the beginning of the New Year 2015, Al-Dosari said in his press statement, “The authority is still waiting for the study results which are being prepared by the team incharge of population restructuring.” He added, the authority does not want to open the door for work permits without a clear and well-contemplated study. The fines charged for failing to report to the concerned authorities about the renewal of expatriates’ passports or extension of their validity are to be paid by their Kuwaiti sponsors or companies, reports Al-Anba daily quoting security sources. They indicated that these fines will be listed in the company’s portfolio and will be imposed on the owners of the company (sponsors) irrespective of whether the permits of the expatriates are under Article 18 (private sector employees), Article 20 (domestic workers) or Article 17 (government sector employees) or any such residence articles of the country. The sources explained that the files of the sponsors will be suspended until they pay all the due fines for failure to report about renewal or extension of foreigners’ passports. The only case where the expatriate will be responsible to bear the fines will be when such expatriates are self-sponsored or considered as employers. They further explained that the issue of settling the fines will be determined by the employer and the employee, and not the Ministry of Interior. There are companies that will bear the cost of the fines based on the circumstances surrounding the failure to report. In cases where the sponsor might demand the employee to bear the cost, the ministry will not object or intervene. Concerning the non-activation of the law since 1979, the sources said the government establishments were not interlinked for the past 36 years. They explained that the law stipulates that expatriates are to report to the concerned authorities about the renewal or extension of their passports within 60 days. Failure to do so will result in a fine of KD2 per day.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 09:33:34 +0000