Legal Clinic

  • Working in Catering Company based in US Army Camp – Want Release

    I am working in a catering company based in a US Army camp, Kuwait. I have already completed three years with this firm and am still working there. My visa is Article 18. I want to get a release and join another company in Kuwait City … is it possible?

    Name withheld

    Answer: Before we go on, we would like to point out that you have not mentioned whether you were a local transfer to this firm or were hired from abroad.

    Secondly, please understand that regardless of the fact that you are working at a US camp, you must be there on the sponsorship of some Kuwait company, which ensures that you fall under the Kuwait Labor Law.

    In such a case, if you transferred to your current sponsor from another Kuwaiti company locally then you can’t be stopped from joining another firm as you have already done more than the one year service required for such a transfer.

    If, however, you were hired from abroad there could be slight complications although it is likely that you could be allowed to transfer your residence.

    If the company gives you a release then there will not be any problem in the transfer but in case the company does not give you the release then you will have to approach the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

    The ministry has set a period of three years service to approve such transfers so it could approve your request. But there is also a chance that the transfer request could be rejected. There is, however, nothing stopping you from trying

    Copyright © ARAB TIMES – KUWAIT

  • Transferring of Farm visa to Company visa

    I came to Kuwait on Oct 8, 2012 on a farm (agriculture) visa. Now I want to transfer my iqama (residence) to a company … so please let me know whether I can transfer my iqama because I have been with a single sponsor last three and half years.

    Name withheld

    Answer: Over the last few months we have repeatedly stressed that people working on farms can transfer, after completing the obligatory period for such transfer, to even Article 18 (work permits) but only if this transfer is to the company of the same sponsor.

    So, it is very clear that you can’t transfer to another company regardless of your service. But if you want to transfer from one sort of farm to another, this shouldn’t be difficult at all if the farm belongs to your current sponsor.

    The only time one faces difficulty in such cases is if the farm you want to transfer belongs to another sponsor. In such a case you have to wait three years to make such a request.

    Please also remember that the Ministry of Interior, through the Immigration Department, is very strict on transfer of expatriates on “shepherd visas” to jobs other than that of shepherds. A senior Public Authority for Manpower official recently voiced this restriction as a measure to cut down the trade in visas and to ensure that expatriates stick to line of work for which they have been issued visas to work in Kuwait.


    Copyright © ARAB TIMES – KUWAIT

  • Can son bring parents and sponsor them on dependent visa?

    I am working for a well-known private sector company and earning a salary of KD 250 while my basic salary is KD 175. My father will be retiring in 2 years, and I would like to know that being their son whether I can sponsor both of my parents.

    Name withheld

    Answer: The answer to this question is very simple if we take a close look at the statement, made in July last year, by the Interior Ministry’s Assistant Secretary for Citizenship and Passport Affairs Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah.

    In this statement, Al-Jarrah very clearly stressed that expatriates would from that month onwards be able to get dependent visas for their wives and children ONLY and that such visas for parents would be stopped.

    So, it is very clear that you will not be able to sponsor either of your parents and they will have to return to your home country.

  • Company problems

    I have been working with a local supermarket as a cashier from Nov 23, 2013. My current residency renewed for 2 years from Dec 2, 2015 to Nov 28, 2017.

    My salary was KD 112 and KD 124 from April 2016. I would like to resign due to family reasons with a 3-month notice period.

    As per resignation, my last work date will be July 10, 2016.

    During my discussion with the HR Department, they informed me about the following. I want to clarify these points.

    1. I have to pay back the cost of 2 years residency renewal KD 134.000 as compensation. Is this required and do I have to pay back this amount as per Kuwait law?

    2. The supermarket only provides vacation after 2 years. I was on vacation for 60 days after 2 years from 16th December 2015 to 16th February 2016. But I got only 1 months vacation salary. They informed that I am eligible for 1 month only. Is this correct? Am I entitled to 2 months vacation salary?

    3. Am I entitled to the balance of annual leave ?

    4. In case of any issues, whom do I have to contact in Shoon (Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor) and what do I have to do?

    Name withheld
    Answer: You have not told us whether you were hired from abroad or whether you transferred to this company locally from another company. These points have a lot of bearing on our answer. We say this because the compensation issue only comes into play if you were hired from abroad and had a fixed-period contract. We will, however, try to answer your questions from all angles so that all your doubts are cleared.

    Judging from the fact that the company is only asking you to pay back the fees involved in the renewal of residence and not asking for any other compensation, it is evident that you don’t have a fixed-period contract with your company which makes things very easy for you and also helps us give you a much clearer answer.

    The company is responsible to pay for the renewal of residence and nowhere does the Kuwait Labor Law even remotely suggest that the fees for this purpose have to be paid back — by the worker — to the employer if he resigns from his job.

    Yes, the company can refuse to give the employee a release if he was hired from abroad but can’t make him pay (the residence fees) the money spent just because he resigned. Now, talking about your second question, on the issue of paid annual leave and the payment in this regard we need to have a look at Articles Article 70 to 73 of the Kuwait Labor Law enacted on Feb 20, 2010.

    Article 70 says “The worker shall be entitled to a 30-day paid annual leave. However, the worker shall not be entitled to a leave for the first year of service except after 9 months of service for the employer. “Official holidays and sick leaves during the year shall not be counted as annual leave. The worker shall be entitled to a leave for the fractions of the year in proportion with the period he spent in actual service, even the first year of service.”

    Article 71 stresses “The worker shall be paid for his annual leave before he proceeds on this leave.” Article 72 lays out that “The employer shall have the right to determine the date of the annual leave and divide such leave after the first 14 days thereof, with the consent of the worker. “The worker shall have the right to accumulate his leave entitlements provided these do not exceed two years and he shall be entitled to take his accumulated leave all at once subject to the approval of the employer.

    “The annual leave can be accumulated for more than two years with the consent of both the parties.” And lastly, Article 73 states that “Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 70 and 71, the worker shall be entitled to a cash consideration for all his accumulated leaves on the expiry of his contract.” If you and your company take a close look at the above articles you will find them self-explanatory.

    In spite of this fact we will try to make things very clear for you.

    First of all you are entitled to 30 days paid leave every year. This are 30 working days, not including the weekly off days or official holidays that fall within these days. It means that you also get paid, for this leave, for 30 working days and not just one month’s salary.

    For example, if your monthly salary is KD 300 per month, these KD 300 must be divided by 26 and multiplied by 30. As a result you would be entitled to KD 346 for the annual leave.

    All our readers can work out their annual leave payment in this way.

    Now on the question of you getting 30 days leave after two years. The company is totally wrong in this regard. First of all the company can only accumulate two years leave “with your consent” and after two years it has to give you 60 days leave.

    Even in this case your salary has to be divided by 26 and multiplied by 60. So, again if you have a salary of KD 300, your total entitlement for the 60 days would work out to be KD 692 and not KD 600. This is a general working for all employees in the private sector.

    Now coming specifically to your case, as you will be leaving the company after 2 years and 7-1/2 months service you are not entitled to any indemnity as you are resigning with a service of less than three years but the total leave for the period should be 78.75 days (paid days, not including weekly offs or holidays falling within this period).

    So, in this case your actual salary is KD 124 (the last salary is counted for calculation of the balance of leave), this should be divided by 26 and multiplied by 78.75 days = KD 375.500.

    Now if you received only one month’s salary when you last went on leave, minus KD 112 from this amount and so you should receive KD 263.500 as payment for the balance of your annual leave but if you were paid KD 129 then you stand to receive KD 246.500.

    So, if the company doesn’t pay you your actual leave salary or demands that you pay the residence fees, just walk into the Labor Office in your area (yours is on the 9th floor of the Behbehani Complex in Sharq) and file a complaint against your firm. The Labor Office will do the rest.

  • Rental agreement

    I am not only an Arab Times reader but have also been an annual subscriber for over a decade. I am trying to shift to a bigger house and have been told that the rent agreement shall be for 5 years and during these 5 years the house owner cannot increase the rent, which is very good.

    Will this condition be written in the rent agreement or just verbal?

    Is it also true that I cannot leave the house before completing the 5 years. Is it also true that the house owner (not the tenant) can give me one month’s notice to leave the house any time during the stipulated 5 years.

    Name withheld

    Answer: It all depends on the contract that you draw and the clauses therein.

    First of all, please remember the standard contract is for one year only. Even in these contracts, unless otherwise specified, you can vacate the premises or the landlord can have it vacated with a three-month notice.

    After the first year, the lease continues on a month to month basis with the same terms and conditions stipulated in the contract.

    The only thing constant is that the rent can’t be raised for five although this doesn’t hold true “in letter and spirit” because landlords have been seen nowadays to have raised the rent by over 100 per cent within two years. Now coming to the five-year contract, that you are planning to sign, we would advise you to go over it very carefully else you could find yourself in trouble if you run into a “bad” landlord. Look closely at the clauses.

    It is up to you and the landlord to agree on the wording instead of going for the standard contract. Please ensure there is a clause which says that you can leave whenever you like with a three-month notice and in the same way the landlord evict you with a similar notice.

    So, with five-year contracts being special, you have to have a close look at the wording of these contracts. This will ensure that your hands are not tied at a later date, especially with the way a lot of landlords — not all — are behaving these days.

  • Transferring from Project Visa back to Private Visa ( Locally Hired)

    I had been reading previous replies to similar questions but have been unable to find an answer to my question. I am an engineer (BSc Engineering) and was previously on my father’s sponsorship (Article 22 visa), later changed to an Article 18 “private” visa (have been on private visa for more than 2 years).

    Now if I transfer to a government project visa and later decide to move back to a private visa even the government project has not been completed will I be able to make such transfer? (Private visa employer is different than the government project employer and later the private visa employer would be different than the government project employer.

    In summary, all different companies). Some people say that as I am an engineer and was already in Kuwait and not employed from out of Kuwait, switching between government and private visas is not an issue.

    Please give a quick reply so I can plan my move accordingly.

    Name withheld
    Answer: It’s now not a question of what your work status is or how long you have spent with the firm on a government project visa…instead what is being considered is whether you were hired for the project from abroad or you joined the firm on a local transfer.

    So everything is in your favor, as you are already in Kuwait and you are planning to join the government project on a local transfer. This means that you should not have any problems (and that too without having to leave the country) transferring back to a private sector but remember that you will have to work on this government project for at least a year before you can apply for a release.

    We would like to bring the following to your attention. Over a year ago — in March 2015 — after issuing a similar verdict on Jan 11 of the same year, Manpower Public Authority Director Jamal Al-Dousary issued an administrative decision allowing expatriates working on government projects to transfer their visas from one sponsor to another.

    This made things easy for only some of the expatriates but a lot of them misunderstand the situation and think that there is a blanket ban on transfer of government project visas But this is not the case and this is where a clarification comes into play and sets the ground rules for the transfers that are allowed.

    Workers on government projects were in the past only allowed to transfer their visas to different companies but under the sponsorship of the same employer after the completion of their contracts. But now the new decision clarifies that laborers contracted locally from the private sector or transferring from dependent visas can transfer to other sponsors according to the previous conditions, which are:

    1. Conclusion of the project’s tenure

    2. Working for at least one year for the first sponsor 3. Getting the sponsor’s approval for transferring.

    So, this makes it very clear that if you transferred to this project locally from another sponsor / company then your transfer is allowed. In the end, as a result of the above decision, we would again like to stress that as you will be joining the government project on a local transfer you should have no difficulty in transferring your residence back to the private sector after one year.

  • Documents required to get Health Insurance

    One of my friends went for family insurance at an insurance office and they asked for results of finger prints. At that time my friend didn’t have a copy of the finger print results.

    One of the insurance agents told him that it’s compulsory but added “If you don’t have the results just pay KD 3 and we can manage to give you the health insurance”.

    Are the finger print results required for health insurance and if so please inform the public through the media even though we have not seen any news item on this subject.

    Please advise us as to what we should do.

    Name withheld

    Answer: You need the following documents to get the health insurance card for your dependent.

    1. Two Civil ID copies of the sponsor

    2. Two copies of the dependent’s Civil ID and passport copy

    3. A passport size photograph (this photograph will be scanned for the health card and returned)

    Please, however, remember that for the first-time residents you will need the following:

    1. Two Civil ID copies of the sponsor

    2. Two copies of the dependent’s passport

    3. A passport size photograph (this photograph will be scanned for the health card and returned)

    The important thing to note here is that you don’t need the fingerprint results to get a health card nor do you have to pay KD 3 as service charges.

    The processing charges are only KD 1.

    The health fees for wife is KD 40 per year and KD 30 for each child per year.

    So, with the service charges, if you are planning to get residence for one year you have to pay KD 41 for the wife and KD 31 for each child.

    Some health centers try to make some extra money by asking you for KD 3 or even KD4 as service charges

  • Indian expat wants Indian maid

    I need to clarify some doubts regarding visas for maids. We (my wife and I) are both Indian nationals and working in Kuwait. I and my husband both are working here as engineers and the family income is over KD 2,500 per month. Soon I will deliver my first child and I need a housemaid to take care of the new born. So I want to bring a housemaid from India and my husband can sponsor her if it’s permitted.

    We have heard that Kuwait stopped bringing maids from India due to the security deposit of KD 700. I wanted to know if we are ready to provide the security deposit of KD 700, then are there any possibilities of bringing the maid or is there no hope. Since we both are working professionals, it is very difficult for us to manage without any housemaid. Please provide your input.

    Name withheld
    Answer: Yes, the controversy over the KD 700 deposit for getting a maid continues but you are not affected either way. The reason for this is that, according to the law, you are not allowed to get a maid from your own country. This action was taken decades ago because people were getting visas for their relatives under the guise of maids. So, as you and your husband both are Indians you can’t get a maid from India even if the controversy over the KD 700 deposit ends.

  • Driving license – Changed from Drivers Visa to Distributor

    I would like to ask you about my driving license.

    I got my driving license in January 2015 and I came to the country on a driver’s visa. After some time I got a job in a multinational company. They changed my job status on my residence to “distributor”. My license will expire in 2 months.

    My question is this: Can I renew my license?

    Name withheld

    Answer: No, you will not be able to renew your driving license. The reason is simple. About two years ago, the Ministry of Interior issued a decision that expatriates who obtained driving licenses when their job status on their work permits was “driver” would have their licenses cancelled or would not be able to renew them if their status on the work permits changed. “Drivers” was one of the four categories which came under the hammer.

    The others being students, housewives and mandoubs (company representatives).

    So, if expatriates from any of these four categories has obtained a driving license because these categories were mentioned on their work permits, they stand to lose their licenses once these categories are changed.

  • Visas for Pakistanis – “For sure your application has been rejected”

    I am drawing a monthly salary of KD 600 and I submitted a visa application for my wife at the Subhan Immigration Department, but they asked me to return at a later date.

    So, I went back to the same Immigration Department after a few days and without checking in the computer, the officials asked my nationality. On being told that I was a Pakistani, he said “ for sure your application has been rejected”. He then checked in the computer and after re-checking my wife’s name, he confirmed that my application had been rejected. While we seek Allah’s help in this regard, we would like to know when such applications of Pakistanis will be accepted.

    Name withheld

    Answer: It’s really unfortunate but this situation has been prevailing for over six years now and, although there has been a lot of talk, it seems very unlikely that the situation will improve in the very near future. The authorities have linked the current “restriction” on the issuance of visas to Pakistanis to the security situation in that country.

    Talking about the “official version”, officials say that all types of visas are being issued to Pakistanis but these are limited in number as the procedures to obtain these have been tightened. Only those who “know their way” around the various obstacles manage to get these visas because their issuance to Pakistanis is very, very restricted.

    In some cases, there is a requirement to obtain an NOC from the Ministry of Interior. Applications in this regard are received by the Ministry of Interior in Sharq and the authority to issue these NOCs has now been delegated to an Assistant Undersecretary at the ministry.

    Earlier, this authority only lay with the Undersecretary, a very senior official whose ranking comes only after the minister. The Ministry of Interior office where you need to give your application is located next to the Awqaf Complex (on Mubarak Al Kabeer Street) in Sharq, although the gate from where you will be allowed to enter lies on totally the opposite side on Othman Bin Affan Street.

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