KUWAIT: The National Assembly’s Interior and Defense committee on Thursday approved major amendments to residence law for foreigners which propose a one-year jail term and a fine of up to KD 2,000 for visitors who overstay in the country. The new amendments also propose raising the daily fine for residency violators from KD 2 to KD 4 from the second month onward. It also proposes long-term residency for foreign investors and landlords from 10 to 15 years which can be renewed for similar duration.

The Assembly panel said on Tuesday it has approved all the amendments and sent its report to the National Assembly for debate and approval in a regular session slated for December 19-20. Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khaled Al-Sabah was quoted as saying on Wednesday that once those amendments become effective, the Ministry will remove all restrictions on issuing all types of visas including dependent and family visas.

If approved by the Assembly on December 19 or 20, they will become effective around one month later when published in the official gazette. One of the amendments stipulates that foreigners on a visit visa can stay in the country for three months and must leave unless they get a residency permit. Violators will be penalized for up to one year in jail or a fine between KD 1,000 and KD 2,000.

Residency violators will be asked to pay a KD 2 fine per day in the first month and then KD 4 per day from the second month onward. Foreigners caught working for businessmen who did not recruit them will be fined KD 3,000. Parents of newborn babies have four months to obtain a residence for the baby, or will be fined KD 2 per day in the first month and KD 4 in the second month onward for those who violate that period.

Under the amendments, foreign wives of Kuwaitis who are divorced or become widows and have children can sponsor themselves for a normal residence. Foreign investors, landlords, widows or divorced wives of Kuwaitis who have children in addition to foreign husbands and children of Kuwaiti women are entitled for a 10-year residency. Domestic helpers can stay outside the country for four months and if they exceed this duration, their residency will be cancelled. The amendments provide full authority for the interior minister to change fees related to new residency, renewals and visit visas.