Kuwait eases visa transfer restrictions for expats

Kuwait’s Public Authority for Manpower has eased most of the restrictions on the transfer of visas for expats working in certain sectors, local media reported.

The new decision allows expat government employees and those on dependent visas to transfer to jobs in the private sector, Kuwait Times reported.

The new decree also permits expat workers across sectors to transfer jobs with the approval of their previous employer.

It also covers expat employees working in activities within the six sectors of industry, agriculture, fishing, cooperative societies, free trade zone and grazing, who were previously not allowed to transfer their visas to a different employer.

The new decision does not apply to workers on government contracts and small and medium projects, the report stated.

In August last year, the Manpower Authority had issued a directive to ban the transfer of government workers to the private sector.

The decision to ban government-to-private sector transfers only exempted Kuwaiti women’s husbands and children, wives of Kuwaitis, Palestinians with travel documents and those in specialised technical professions in the healthcare industry who are transferring to licenced facilities to provide medical services, such as doctors, nurses and others in the medical field.

The authority had also levied restrictions on the transfer of dependent visas to work visas in the private sector.

Read: Kuwait imposes ban on visa transfers to private sector

The latest decision has been taken to meet the needs of the labour market due to the prevailing conditions during the coronavirus pandemic, the authority said.