KUWAIT: Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Anas Al-Saleh Monday urged all expatriates in violation of residency law to benefit from a grace period granted by government to allow them to leave the country without payment of fines. Saleh, also Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs, warned those expatriates they would not be allowed to return to work in Kuwait after end of grace period, due end of this month.

Saleh made the remarks to reporters during visits to Ministry of Interior's locations in Farwaniya Governorate designed to receive expatriates who were in violation of the residency law, a Ministry of Interior (MoI) statement said. Monday was the first day for the Egyptian expatriates who can come forward to locations designated by MoI to complete procedures before they are placed in a housing facility and then airlifted to their country. The Egyptian community has five days to apply.

Abusive sponsors
Saleh said sponsors abusing expatriates would be held accountable. "There will not be any backtracking on this issue and we will deal with it firmly and fiercely," he underlined. He said there has been coordination with the Egyptian officials to facilitate the repatriation. Saleh thanked the MoI personnel for the way they were dealing with the expatriates.

The Interior Ministry had issued an amnesty allowing 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. The amnesty was issued in view of the circumstances the country is currently going through and as part of the precautionary measures taken to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Individuals desiring to procure valid residencies in Kuwait and are willing to pay the fines without being subjected to investigations will be allowed to pay the fines and legalize their status if they meet the required conditions.

Special centers in Farwaniya were allocated to accommodate violators who finalize their papers pending departure. Male violators are received at Al-Muthanna primary school for boys, Farwaniya, block 1, street 122, while female violators are received at Farwaniya primary school for girls in Farwaniya, block 1, street 76. Violators are received from 8 am till 2 pm according to the following dates and nationalities: Philippines (April 1-5, 2020), Egypt (April 6-10), India (April 11-15), Bangladesh (April 16-20), Sri Lanka (April 21-25), other nationalities (April 26-30, 2020).

The Interior Ministry later opened two new locations in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh to receive residency violators from all nationalities: Female violators are received at Roufayda Al-Aslameya School - Block 4 - Street 200, while male violators are received at Naeem bin Masod School - Block 4 - Street 250.

Legal action
Separately, the Interior Ministry announced that police on Monday stopped expatriate workers from leaving Mahboula, south of Kuwait City, as instructed by their sponsors, and ordered them to return to their homes. The ministry knows identities of the sponsors of those workers who wanted to move their employees outside Mahboula and compelled them to return them to their homes, a ministry statement said.

The ministry, it affirmed, would be taking legal action against those sponsoring companies. Police forces are monitoring all areas to make sure such things won recur, asserted the ministry. The government decided to impose a complete lockdown on Mahboula and Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh for two weeks starting Monday. - KUNA