Al-Seyassah reports that the new residency law will be discussed at the session scheduled for Tuesday. It aims to increase the penalties imposed on foreigners who visit Kuwait but remain here without residency.
The punishment was to be either imprisonment for one year or a fine between KD 1000 and KD 2000. The visit duration has been increased to three months, instead of one month. It can be renewed with the approval of the Minister of Interior.
This penalty is stipulated in Article 27 of the new residency law. It applies to foreigners who violate Article 11 which states that an expatriate entering Kuwait to visit can stay up to three months. The expatriate must leave the country when his visa expires unless he has a residence permit issued by the Ministry of Interior.
The new law has increased the daily fine for violating residency laws to KD 2. It also increases the fine for delayed registration of newborns to KD 2 for the first month and KD 4 per day thereafter, in case of a violation of Article 6 which states that “Every expatriate with a child who was born in Kuwait State must submit the passport or travel document of the newborn to the Ministry of Interior within four months of the date of the birth to receive a residence permit, or a grace to leave Kuwait State.”
Article 31. Article 31 states in its fourth paragraph, that a sum of KD 3,000 is payable if an expatriate works for other sponsors other than his own, in violation of the requirements of his residency.
