Over 2,000 expats seek status amendment this week
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 18: The Ministry of Interior announced the suspension of the decision to allow expatriates who violated the Residency Law before 2020 to pay the fines imposed on them and legalize their status, which was issued last week, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

A security source told the daily that the ministry is continuing its plan to deport residency violators from the country, as has been the practice throughout the past period. He disclosed that since the beginning of this week, the residency affairs departments in the six governorates have so far received about 2,000 residency violators to amend their status and pay the fines imposed on them — amounting to KD600 for each violator. The decision issued by former Minister of Interior Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled stipulated the cancellation of Resolution number 288 issued in 2020 — during the Corona crisis — regarding the rules for deporting foreigners who do not have residence permits or whose residence permits have expired and allowing amendment of the status of violators after Jan 3, 2020.

Earlier, it was reported that the ministry issued Ministerial Decision No. 26/2024 to cancel Ministerial Decision Number 288/2020 on deporting those who do not have residency permits or those whose residency has expired; thereby, allowing those who violated the Residency Law to legalize their status. The daily obtained a copy of the decision, stating that “after reviewing Decree-Law No. 38/1980 on issuing the Civil and Commercial Procedures Law, and Ministerial Resolution No. 288/2020 regarding the rules for deporting foreigners who do not have residence permits or whose residence permits have expired; and based on the proposal of the acting undersecretary, following are the articles of the new decision:

Article One: Resolution No. 288/2020 shall be cancelled.
Article Two: The acting Undersecretary must implement this decision.”

Meanwhile, reliable sources clarified that the decision to cancel the resolution issued in 2020 on not allowing violators of the Residency Law to amend their legal status excludes violators of various types of visas — family visits or others, and they must pay the fines imposed on them and leave the country. Sources explained that the decision allows violators of the Residency Law to amend their legal status and obtain a valid residency permit, provided they pay the fine imposed on them – a maximum of KD600. Sources disclosed security campaigns carried out last year resulted in the arrest of about 43,000 violators of the Residency Law and a directive has been issued for their deportation. Sources clarified that about 120,000 violators of the Residency Law will benefit from this decision as they will be allowed to amend their status.