KUWAIT: An amnesty Kuwait provided for residency violators ended on Thursday, as people from different nationalities headed to centers in Farwaniya and Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh set up by the Ministry of Interior to receive expatriates without valid residencies. The amnesty allowed residency violators to leave the country between April 1 and April 30 without paying any fines or airfare with a chance to return to Kuwait later.

Applicants from all nationalities are received on April 26 - 30. The amnesty started with receiving Filipino applicants on April 1 - 5, followed by Egyptians on April 6 - 10, Bangladeshis on April 11 - 15, Indians on April 16 - 20, and Sri Lankans on April 21 - 25. Although the Interior Ministry is yet to announce the total number of applicants, early estimations indicate that only 30,000 out of around 160,000 people living illegally in Kuwait have availed the amnesty.

The timing of the amnesty, which came at a time in which air travel has been suspended around the world due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) spread, has been blamed as the main reason for its failure to reach its desired goal.