KUWAIT: The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a new draft residency law which includes major changes from the existing 60-year-old legislation and toughens penalties on violators, in addition to banning giving shelter to illegal expats, an official statement said. The approval came during the Cabinet’s weekly meeting headed by Acting Prime Minister and Interior and Defense Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah. It becomes effective only after HH the Amir issues it in a decree, expected to happen soon.

The Cabinet also approved on Tuesday a draft decree appointing Sheikh Mubarak Homoud Al-Jaber Al-Sabah as Chief of Kuwait National Guard (KNG). Also, Minister of Municipality Affairs Abdullatif Al-Meshari accepted the resignation of Kuwait Municipality Director General Saud Al-Dabbous, which he had submitted on Tuesday.

A Cabinet statement said the new draft residency law aims at banning trading in residencies and determination of rules that govern deporting expats, in addition to increasing penalties on violators of the residency law. The new law consists of seven chapters that govern and explain the rules for the entry of expats, informing authorities, trading in residencies and related crimes and penalties for violators, the statement issued by the Cabinet said.

One of the articles prohibits “trading in residencies by facilitating the entry of expats through a visa or work permit or renewing them against money or benefits”. Another article prohibits employers from forcing recruited expats from working in jobs other than specified in the work permit. It also bans employers from allowing their employees to work for others without a license from the interior ministry and prohibits employers to withhold wages of their employees.

The law prohibits expats working for others without obtaining a permit from their government employers or from concerned authorities, the statement said. The law also bans sheltering expats or employing them, whether their residencies are valid or expired, and bars renting houses to illegal expats. The new law obliges sponsors of expats to notify the interior ministry in case their visas or temporary and permanent residences had expired and they had not left the country. The statement did not provide further details on the new penalties.