Legal Clinic

My husband and I are Pakistanis. My husband recently extended his residence for one month and I want to know whether he can renew my residence/visa too. My visa is going to expire in October. So can I get my visa renewed or transferred if my husband has his visa extended? His visa will expire in the last week of September.

Name withheld

Answer: If your husband got his residence extended for only a month, this means he is only on temporary residence.

In such cases, he can’t renew your residence while on temporary residence and will have to wait until he gets proper residence.

Please, however, remember that if your residence is about to expire and your husband has still not got his proper residence, he should also get an Article 14 (temporary residence) for you.

Such a step will prevent you from becoming illegal in the country and also save you from any fine.

I’m from Pakistan and working in Abu Dhabi (UAE), as an Admin Assistant/Medical Receptionist. I’m emailing you to get the information about Kuwait Visa. How can I go to Kuwait from Abu Dhabi (UAE). My family is in Kuwait.

Name withheld

Answer: Unfortunately, being a Pakistani, you will not be able to get a visa for Kuwait regardless of the fact that your family is in Kuwait or that you are working in Abu Dhabi.

The government says there are some “restrictions”, and not ban, on the issuance of visas to Pakistanis.

This involves the applications — whether for work, visit, or dependents — going through the security authorities for security clearance and it is very rare, though not entirely ruled out — for Pakistanis to get this clearance.

So, we would like to stress again that you will not be able to obtain a visa to Kuwait, even if you are currently a resident of a Gulf country

I would like to get some details on procedure for babies born in Kuwait … if the father is working in the Ministry of Social Affairs & Labor with shoun (work permit) residence but salary only KD 220.

Can he get dependent residence for his newborn baby … the mother is in Kuwait on a khadim (domestic) visa.

Name withheld

Answer: You will not be able to sponsor your child in Kuwait because all children born through marriage of an expatriate on a work permit (Article 18) and another on a domestics visa (Article 20) can’t be sponsored as dependents.

According to the law you will be required to take the child out of Kuwait (with the permission of the Immigration Department ) within 60 days of its birth. In case you fail to do so, you will face legal action plus possibly deportation if you try to keep the baby illegally in the country.

What is the procedure to cancel the work contracts in Kuwait. Our company is not providing medical allowance or transportation to the hospital if an employee suffers from personal health issues or any disease.

Name withheld

Answer: Your question is very ambiguous and as such we can’t give you an accurate reply.

We would need the following information to provide you an answer:

1. Were you hired abroad or locally

2. Is yours an open-ended contract or fixed-period contract

3. Do you wish to cancel the contract because the firm has violated the contract’s terms and conditions or just because you don’t want to serve with this firm anymore.

4. How long have you served with this firm 5. Any other information you can provide (doesn’t matter how trivial, it could be important).

I have been working in a private company for about 10 years. I have now got a new job offer and decided to join the new company at the earliest possible. I have informed my new employer that I can join them only after my completion of 10 years of continuous service with my current employer, which will make me eligible to receive 100% of indemnity benefits from my existing employer, due to 10 years service completion as stipulated by Kuwait Labor Law (as I understand).

My clarification is whether 10 years completion period can include 3 months notice period or will I need to wait completion of 10 years to serve notice of my resignation to my current employer.

Will appreciate your advice on my situation, for me to quickly agree with my new employer on my joining date, without losing my 100% indemnity benefits from my current employer?

Name withheld

Answer: In this connection you need to have a close look at Article 44 (d) of the Kuwait Labor Law which clearly says that the notification period, even if your employer waives it for you, must be counted in the service period.

And you are also entitled to all benefits for this period. So, to complete the 10 years service, you can include the notification period and if the company officials object just bring the above article to their notice.

Thank you for your very praiseworthy help via the Legal Clinic. I am an Indian expatriate, working with a trading company. I joined this company on Sept 12, 2013. I want to know how much will be my final settlement and leave balance payment.

I have already resigned and my last day of working is Aug 17, 2016. My current salary is KD 300 and my company has informed me that final settlement amount is KD 337.600. This includes 17 days salary and leave salary. I have availed 2 years leave and rejoined the company on Feb 19, 2016.

Name withheld

Answer: First of all, as you have resigned without completion of three years service (including the 3-month notification period) you are not entitled to any indemnity.

You entitlement is only the salary for the 17 days of August and payment for whatever balance you have in your annual leave.

For the salary of August your payment works out to be KD 164.500 and for the balance of annual leave (if you have availed leave until Feb 19) KD 173.100. So the total will be KD 337.600. This means the calculation of the company is correct.

I would like to know whether it is possible to transfer the work permit of a locally employed engineer before completion of 1 year’s service if the company terminates the employment.

Also I wish to know if the such a transfer is possible when a locally hired employee (engineering graduate) resigns before completing 1 year with the new employer.

Your advice will be helpful to a great extent for me and other employees with related cases.

Name withheld
Answer: Yes, you are entitled to a release and transfer if your services are terminated by the company before the completion of one year’s service, in fact at any point of your service.

Secondly, you are entitled to a transfer — provided your employer gives you a release — even if you resign before completion of one year … provided you are a university graduate.

I have an urgent inquiry as follows: My residency expired on Aug 17, 2016. My company is unable to the renew due to some company problem.

I asked them to get me temporary residency but the company officials said the sponsor is not in Kuwait.

He will be back after 1 month. My family residence will expire on May 10, 2017.

Will this effect them and if so, how can I get out of this situation.

Name withheld

Answer: Well, you must get temporary residence (Article 14) immediately or your family’s residence will be cancelled … if it has not been cancelled already. There is no other way out of this situation. The rule is very simple these days … if you are illegal, your family is illegal. Your firm can easily get the temporary residence for you, even if your sponsor is out of the country. Talk to your mandoub (company representative) about the issue and he will get the temporary residence for you.

First of all thank you very much for your Legal Clinic which is beneficial to so many Arab Times readers. I have a question for you which is as follows.

I joined a Spanish company on 1/3/2012 and my salary now is KD 375. On July 18 I received a termination letter saying Oct 17, 2016 will be my last working day. May I know what will be my terminal gratuity?

Secondly my residence is expiring on 7/10/2016 and 17/10/2016 will be my last working day. My question to you in this situation is how can I transfer my residence. Kuwait law says to transfer residence a person must have at least three months valid residence.

Please help me to solve this problem.

Name withheld

Answer: First of all lets calculate your indemnity.

Service: 4 years 7.5 months

Salary: KD 375

You are entitled to 15 days pay for each year of service = 69.4 days

But these days have to be first divided by 26 and then multiplied by your salary = 69.4 / 26 = KD 1,000.960

As your services have been terminated you are entitled to the full above amount.

Now on the question of transfer of residence, you don’t have to worry about anything because as soon as your residence is about to expire your current employer or the new one can get you temporary residence Article 14 (one month at a time for a maximum of three months).

This is enough for you to transfer your residence. You have just to ensure that you are not illegal, i.e. without residence at any point.

I have been working in a private company for over 15 years and I resigned recently. I just want to know if my housing allowance will be included in the calculation of my indemnity.

Will the calculation be as follows: Indemnity = (basic salary + housing allowance) x (2.88 + 10 months). Is this correct? Are there any other items to be included in the calculation?

Name withheld

Answer: There are two things here … one is the law and second is what some of the companies practice without any check.

According to the law, all allowances paid regularly must be included in the calculation of indemnity … something only the good companies while all the others calculate indemnity on the basic salary … which is very, very wrong.

For the first five years you get 15 days pay for each year but these 75 days have to be first divided by 26 (working days in a month) So you get 2.88 months salary for the first five years

After that, you get one month’s salary for each year of service

In your case, it will be 10 months pay

So the total indemnity is worked out as follows: (2.88 x total salary) + 10 months salary

That’s the correct equation.

With the brackets in the wrong places, the answer works out differently.

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I came to Kuwait on 23-02-08 on a private company visa Article18 and until now am working with the same company. I would like to submit my resignation in September 2016.

If I resign what will be my indemnity (benefits) and will the company give me an air ticket.

My current salary is KD 362.000

Food Allowance KD 25.000

Total: KD 387.000 by bank transfer to my account.

The company is also providing accommodation and transport.

Name withheld

Answer: If you resign in September, your service (including the notice period ) with be approximately 8 years 10 months.

As such, as you are resigning, you will be entitled to two-thirds of the total indemnity because your service will be over 5 years but less than 10 years.

Please also remember that according to the law, the full salary: the basic salary plus all the allowances that you are getting on a regular basis must be used in the calculation of the indemnity.

If you are getting accommodation plus transport, the company must work out a sum for these facilities for the calculation of your indemnity.

As such, as you have not provided these figures we can’t work out your indemnity.

But here is the method to calculate the same

For the first five years you get 2.88 months salary

For the next 3 years 10 months you get one month’s salary for each year = 3.83 months salary

So, the total indemnity will be 2.88 x 3.83 = 6.71

Multiply 6.71 by your total salary to get the full indemnity

Once you get the full indemnity, work out two-thirds of that figure

Which can be done by multiplying full indemnity x 2/3.

This is your entitlement.