Parliamentarian MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf said that the government and the concerned minister’s failed to nationalize jobs and substitute expats with citizens. The government should encourage the youth to join the private sector and reduce dependence on expatriate labor.

“Expats should not be allowed to transfer residency visas as long as employers respect the provisions in the contracts signed with them, namely those concerning labor, vocational and financial rights. This will help differentiate those who come to Kuwait to work and those who only come to make trouble and transfer visas as they wish,” he said, pointing out that chaos in Kuwait’s labor market encourages expats to purchase visas and do freelance jobs.

Moreover, Hajraf said that the labor law has many loopholes such as accepting grievances filed by expats working for people other than their sponsors and that this encourages many of them to abscond and get temporary visas to cancel the old one and shift sponsors, or even buy ‘free’ visas and start working on their own. “Expats have taken advantage of the weak laws and file more than one complaint without showing up for hearings, so that they can finally be allowed to transfer visas,” he explained.