KD 300 FEE FOR S.M.E. WORKER TRANSFERS AFTER ONE YEAR

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 30: Kuwait has significantly revised its labor policies for older expatriate workers. Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah, the Acting Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Interior, has decided to cancel Article 1 of the Public Authority for Manpower’s decision No. 294/2023. The now-canceled provision had specifically targeted expatriate workers aged 60 and above with high school diplomas or lower, requiring them to pay an additional annual fee of 250 Kuwaiti dinars and obtain an irrevocable comprehensive health insurance policy to renew their work permits. This decision marks a notable change in the approach to managing older foreign workers in Kuwait’s labor market

According to sources from the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), the minister made this decision after PAM’s Board of Directors approved to cancel the policy that allowed the aforementioned category of workers to renew their work permits annually, provided they paid the prescribed fees. With this decision, the system will revert to its previous state, thereby allowing workers aged 60 and above with non-university degrees to renew their work permits or transfer them to another employer without the need to pay fees that could total up to KD 900, which had included KD 500 for an annual health insurance policy, KD 250 for the work permit, and other associated costs. The decision has also abolished the requirement for workers in this category to hold a university degree to transfer or renew their work permits. Meanwhile, the minister’s decision also amended Article 14 of ministerial decision No. 9/2016, which pertains to regulations for workers in small and medium enterprises (SME). The amendment states, “A worker hired in a small or medium enterprise can be transferred to another company within the same SME sector with the employer’s approval, after one year from the issuance of the work permit.

However, the transfer of such workers within the same sector and to the same employer’s file is allowed without the need to abide by the time requirement, provided they pay the prescribed fee of KD 300 for transferring the worker before the one-year period has passed.” Furthermore, the decision canceled the second clause of Article 1 of ministerial decision No. 57/A/2016, thereby allowing workers hired in the government contract sector and registered under the main employer’s file to transfer to work outside that sector. It also permits the transfer of workers from the “distinguished lists” sector to work outside that sector. The sources affirmed that this decision will be effective from the date of its publication in the official gazette.