KUWAIT: Well-informed sources said members of the parliamentary human resources committee plan to ask the government for further explanations concerning the new charter of the residency law as they see it as contradicting with government plans to cut the number of expats in the country, replace them with citizens in the public sector and increase the number of citizens in the private sector.

The sources explained that the lawmakers called for a meeting with Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah and Minister of State for Economic Affairs Mariam Al-Aqeel to discuss the new charter, which they as opening the door wide for the influx of more unnecessary marginal laborers. The sources said lawmakers plan to demand guarantees that visit visas will not be transferred to residency visas, unless the concerned expat is an expert in a field really needed in Kuwait. "Lawmakers will also demand real measures to stop the accelerated growth in the expat population as they are currently more than 3.5 million," the sources concluded.

Meanwhile, high-ranking security sources told Kuwait local daily Al-Anbaa that the interior ministry's assistant undersecretary for residency affairs Maj Gen Talal Maarafi invited various residency affairs managers to a meeting yesterday to discuss the new charter and answer their inquiries. "It is noteworthy that the new ministerial resolution has put an end to speculations concerning increasing the fees collected for residency and visit visas until further notice," the sources stressed, adding that fee increases require parliamentary approval and that increases had been earlier proposed in parliament but rejected by the interior ministry.

By A Saleh