Legal Clinic

I was working as a nurse in a clinic, i resigned, last day was Sept 30, 2019. I will transfer my visa to family. Now Oct 3, my employer informed me that i need to transfer residency till next week, if not they will file a case against me in sho’on. Is it possible? How come I am only given one week. I just completed our requirements for family visa, will start processing on Sunday but I don’t think a week is enough to finish. Please advice, need your help. Thanks.

Name withheld

Answer: So far as you have begun the processes that will lead to the transfer to your work visa to a dependent visa, we advise you to continue the processes and ignore the threats of your employer, who is enjoined by law to give you reasonable time to effect the transfer.

By no stretch of imagination can one week be said to be reasonable time within which to transfer your residency.

In the event that your employer carries out his threat to report you to sho’on just make sure that you arm yourself with all the documents to show that you are in the process of transferring your visa 18 to visa 22 (family). This will be enough to expose the absconding lie being bandied before you.

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My wife came here to Kuwait on family visit visa (3 months validity) on June 16, 2019 and left Kuwait on Sept 7, 2019. After how many days/months will family visit visa be issued for her if she wants to visit Kuwait?

Name withheld

Answer: Under the rules governing family visit visa, when one visits Kuwait, one can only come back on another visit visa after the elapse of six months. In your case your wife can be eligible for another visit from March 8, 2020, onwards

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My husband is working as a nurse in industrial area and his basic salary is KD 450. According to new rule is he eligible to apply for a family visa? In case if he is not eligible for family visa, if I come to Kuwait on a work visa and our combined basic salary is above KD 650. Can we sponsor our child?

Name withheld

Answer: Under the new rule, an expatriate worker should earn a monthly salary of KD 500 to be in position to sponsor his family on dependent visa. This not withstanding, workers belonging to certain professions are exempted from meeting this salary requirement.

Those exempted include consultants, jurists, prosecutors, experts, legal researchers in the public sector, doctor, lecturers in higher education institutions, school principals and assistants, education guides and teachers, social counselors, laboratory technicians, economic and finance advisors, engineers, imams, muezzins and those who teach the Holy Qur’an, librarians, nursing staffs, paramedics, medical technicians with various specializations, journalists, coaches and players in sports club’s, pilots and service crew and undertakers.

Zeroing in on your specific question, you can see that nurses are among the list of workers exempted from meeting the minimum salary requirement. He must however point out that in some of the exemptions, there is discrimination between those in the public sector and their counterparts in the private sector so we can’t say for certainty that your husband can sponsor you on family especially if he is not working with the public sector.

On the issue of you and your husband combining your salaries to satisfy the minimum salary requirement, we are sorry to say that is not possible as the practice, which was allowed some years ago, has since been discontinued and hence sponsoring your child on your husband’s monthly of KD 450 cannot materialize unless he gets an exemption from the concerned authority

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I am an Indian national working in Kuwait for the past 7 years. I am planning to bring a maid from my country India. I heard that we cannot hire same nationality, is it true? If not what is the procedures to apply for a visa in my own sponsorship.

My wife is also working and our total salary will be around KD 1,250. Please advise the procedures accordingly.

Name withheld

Answer: Under the laws of Kuwait, foreigners, with the exception of some Arabs, cannot hire the services of domestic workers except with the expressed approval of the Ministry of Interior.

The proceeding not withstanding such approvals are made with the proviso that the expatriate whose application has been approved, can only hire a maid of a different nationality as the sponsor.

The following are the procedures involved in applying to sponsor a maid after receiving the go-ahead from the Ministry of the Interior.

Documents needed

1. Salary certificates of you and your wife (if the latter is working)
2. Photocopy of the house rented agreement
3. Photocopy of your passport and wife’s
4. Proof of ages of children (photocopy of local birth certificates or passport)
5. Photocopy of you Civil ID and wife’s 6. Photocopy of the maid’s passport plus eight passport sized photos 7. Photocopy of the maid’s work contract (salary, weekly off, period of work and air ticket are a must to mention) When you obtain the visa from the Immigration Department, you need to send it to the maid for further formalities to be done in the country of origin.

The maid has to go to the Kuwait Embassy in her country where she will be told where to go and do her medicals.

A plane ticket will be sent to the maid after she successfully goes through the medicals for her onward journey to Kuwait when she will again go through further formalities before getting her residence permit stamped in her passport after which she will finally apply for a Civil ID card and become a legal resident in Kuwait.

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I have a concern about my current situation here in my work. They terminated me without any reason and as far as I remember I don’t have any issue or violations from their rules and regulations and I have been working with them for almost a year with a 2 years contract when they suddenly terminated me.

My previous company told me that they would give me a release and my visa was transferable and the indemnity I will receive is only 30 days vacation leave only.

Here’s the thing: When I applied to join a different company the recruiter said that my visa is not yet transferable because it’s new. By the way, I came to Kuwait last November 2018 but I had my civil ID in June 2019 and that will expire by June 2020.

They issued it to me very late. I’ve been working with them since November 2018 to June 2019 without a civil ID and Baladiya. It means, I’ve been carrying my Civil ID for about 3 months now from the date issued. How can I apply for a job in a different company if I have an issue with a visa ? Can they really terminate me without any reason? Even if I have a 2 years contract with them? Why my back pay is only for 30 days vacation leave only? I’m having a hard time applying for a job in a different company due to this issue. Hope you can help me. Thank you!

Name withheld

Answer: You have been put into this mess by the company which hired and fired you so let them deal with the mess that they themselves have created. In this regard they have to keep you under their sponsorship to such time that it will be possible for you to do the transfer to another company.

As for being fired without assigning any reason, it is within the company’s right to do so and in a similar vein, the law enjoins them to make sure that your rights are not violated.

This means that the company must give you reasonable time within which to transfer your residence as well as pay you all that is due to you.

Since you have worked with them for one year, you are entitled to two weeks salary as end of service payment in addition to 30 days salary in lieu of the leave that you did take. If the company try’s to prove recalcitrant we advise that you file a case against them at the Public Authority for Manpower to seek redress.

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Firstly I would like to thank you for the excellent service you are running, I find it one of the most useful pages from newspapers. My question: I’m an expat living in Kuwait and I have a daughter who is autistic. We are struggling with her school admission and I wanted to know, from a legal point of view, do autistic kids have a right to be educated in the same schools as ‘normal’ kids? Or are their special schools only?

Name withheld

Answer: The general principle is that every child has fundamental right to be educated. Building on this principle is the realization that all students have the ability to learn and will learn irrespective of their disability. Whereas we cannot cite amy law that prohibits autistic kids from being educated in normal schools, we are of the opinion that children suffering from autism will have their interests better served when they are admitted in schools that are specialised in dealing with children with special needs. In such schools, children can be imparted with professional expertise therapy and education, so they are able to unfold their potentials and be active members of their communities.

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Please find attached my company’s uniform issuance form. Please advise if I can sign this form or not.

Name withheld
Answer: We have gone through the company’s uniform issuance form and have come out with the fact that accepting and signing the form is a condition precedent for your continuous stay with the company. Indeed it is stated in the form that the uniforms and badges are meant to maintain a professional and tidy look as per the company’s uniform policy.

When you sign the form and you are issued with the uniform and badge, you will be deemed to have met the condition, precedent which will then lead you to the conditions subsequent. Under the letter conditions you are supposed to use the uniforms only during duty hours, take good care of it and keep it clean and wrinkle-fee.

The conditions subsequent also state that at the end of service, you will return all uniforms and ID badges which were issued to you on your last day of service.

The conditions further go on to say that in the event you don’t retun all of the uniforms and ID badge, or any item mentioned in the form, the cost stated for each item will be deducted from your final settlement.

The conditions further go on to explain that the set of items mentioned is good for two years from the date of issuance and that during your service, if any of the items is lost or not wearable anymore, you should request for its replacement and should pay for it as per the cost indicated in the form. Having gone into detail to explain to you what the form entails, the decision to sign or not to sign is exclusively yours to make.

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I would like to inquire where to pay the visit visa fine for overstaying so there will be no hassels at the airport to travel back.

Name withheld

Answer: Visit the Immigration Department in your area where the visa was issued and there you can pay the fine for overstaying. Or at Airport near immigration there is a counter to pay fine.

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I was on family visa but I came to India in October 2018. I didn’t re-enter Kuwait within 6 months but my Civil ID expires on April 2020. What can I do if I need to go Kuwait on visit visa in February? Do I need to cancel it or automatically it will be cancelled?

Name withheld

Answer: After you didn’t re-enter Kuwait within the six-month period allowed, your residence and by extension your Civil ID were automatically cancelled. To come to Kuwait on visit visa, you need someone in Kuwait who is a legal resident to go through the necessary processes of inviting you to the country.

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I am working with a private bank in Kuwait for the past 6 months. I have been recruited from my home country directly. As per my visa (18), I have to give 3 months notice.

Can I change my job to a government company if I get a offer by serving 3 months notice period?

Can I join the government company in a different designation? Do I need to go back to my home country and come to Kuwait on a new visa, if so any time frame for the same? What is the best possible option for me to shift in the current scenario?

Name withheld

Answer: Unless your sponsor is willing to waive his rights, the labour law mandates him to keep you working for him for three years because he brought you from your country to work in the bank.

The 3 months notice period is also mandatory and regardless of the number of years you have worked for a company.

You always have to inform the company three months in advance when you want to quit. We must also point out that even if the bank has no objection in you leaving them, your request for a visa transfer might face some obstacles at the Public Authority for Manpower as latter is not prone to approving visa transfers for applicants who have not worked for at least one year for their companies before asking for transfers to other companies.

There is no time-frame within which to leave Kuwait, go back to your country and return to Kuwait on a new visa. The time depends on how fast the new company representative will process the documents to enable you leave and return to Kuwait.

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