I was reading your column in Arab Times and I thought of approaching you and asking the following question:
I have a friend who was an engineer with a contracting company in Kuwait. He worked in this company for 6 long years, until eventually he found another company but had to do the same nature of work as the old one.
The old company was giving him a hard time in providing a release so he decided to file a case with the Labor Department .He won the case but the company now is refusing to give him his passport. The company officials said they will only give it if he goes back to the country of origin. What do you think he should do?”

Name withheld
Answer: The company is just creating hurdles for nothing and your friend should just hire a lawyer who can file a case on his behalf in court. The lawyers charges for such cases are minimal and as passports are personal documents and the companies are not allowed to retain them the court - most likely in the first hearing - will order the company to return your passport, failing which they can face legal action. In all such cases, the courts always decide in favor of the passport owners.