Legal Clinic

Me and my wife came together to India for vacation I had an accident and not able to travel for another 3 months. My wife residency is expiring on February 5, 2020. What’s the solution to renew.

Name withheld

Answer: Under normal circumstance the presence of both you and your wife in Kuwait is required for the renewal to take place. Your presence in Kuwait is not however possible because of the condition you find yourself. We therefore propose that you get a medical report detailing your condition and your inability to travel. With this medical report, let your wife travel back to Kuwait and on compationate grounds we believe her residency will be renewed without your presence.

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I am working with a company for the past 11 years. My last drawn salary is KD 715 per month which is sent as one figure to the bank. In addition to that I have regular incentives which are also transfered to the bank. I have resigned and served 3 months as notice peiod.
My company says they will calculate my indemnity on KD 480. My Izneamal shows salary as KD 550. Can you please help me with the following:
a. My indemnity calculation (as per law should it be based on KD 715 or 480)?
b. If I go legally can the periodic incentives be added for indemnity calculation?
c. What legal implications can there be for the company when they have one figure as actual salary (going to bank) second figure on izneamal and third for calculation

Name withheld

Answer: Before answering your question let’s have a close look at the word remuneration which is what should be used – according to the Kuwait Labor Law – for all calculations linked to overtime pay, annual leave pay and indemnity.

Article 55 of the Kuwait Labor states that ‘remuneration’ means the basic payment the worker receives or should receive in consideration of his work in addition to all the elements stipulated in the contract or the employer by-laws without prejudice to the social allowance and the children’s allowance granted by virtue of Law 19 of the year 2000, the remuneration shall include the payments made to the worker on periodic basis such as bonuses, benefits, allowance, grants, endowments or cash benefits.

Article 62 of the Kuwait Labor Law says ‘the calculation of the worker’s entitlements shall be made on the basis of the last remuneration received by the worker’ Unfortunately, most companies are interpreting the law according to the whims and caprices and hence calculating the indemnity of their employees only on the basic pay which is totally wrong. Having gone to pains to explain the nittygritties of indemnity calculation, we now turn to your specific questions.

(a). Your indemnity calculation as per the law should be based on KD 715 and not KD 480
(b). Yes the periodic incentives you get should be added as part of your remenuration if it is already not part of the KD 715 you earn monthly.
(c). There won’t be any legal implications for the company so long as the calculations are done in accordance with the law.

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I have a question concerning getting release from the company I work. I had been working in this company from March 1, 2015 to March 1, 2018 after which I resigned. I was rehired in the same company due to wrong tanazal paper from the new company. They made me sign a three-year contract as a rehire from May 29, 2018 to 2020. Now, after completing two years in the company, I want to get release, but without finishing the three-year contract. Is there any possibility of getting the release?

Name withheld

Answer: You had the option of not signing if you did’nt want to sign the rehire contract but you chose to sign it and hence must be prepared to obey the rule of the thumb. In short the three-year contract you signed with the company is valid and binding. You can only get a release before the expiry of the 3-year period if the company has no objection.

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I know that father can sponsor visa to wife and kids. However, I would like to know if my wife is not residing in Kuwait can I sponsor my 2 daughters so that they can stay with me without my wife? I have seen residency department asking and checking for civil ID copy of mother along with other documents at the time of renewal of kids residency. Whether residency of kids is possible without mother in Kuwait and what is the process, please let me know. Thank you.

Name withheld

Answer: To sponsor your two daughters, it is mandatory that your wife should be a legal resident in Kuwait either under your sponsorship or under the sponsorship of the public or private sector.
There have even been situations where the wife is on holidays and the husband is not allowed to renew their children’s residence until the wife was back in Kuwait.
To obtain an entry visa for family member, visit the Immigration Department in your area and fill the application form which is typed in Arabic.

The following supporting documents are required to be submitted along with the forms:

1. Sponsor’s salary certificate
2. Copy of sponsor’s civil ID
3. Copy of dependent’s passport
4. Authentic marriage certificate, or child’s birth certificate, authenticated by the sponsor’s embassy and certified by Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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I am an Indian citizen whose employment contract is with Kuwait based petroleum company from 16 Dec, 2019. Within one month, I resigned from my position on 13th Jan, 2020. First my manager rejected my application then I was emailed to HRD. Two days later they responded by calling me at HO. HR manager asked me why I resigned and I told him my wife had psychiatric disorder problem — and few days ago she was tensed and the consultant advised me to return home and stay with her.

My visa expired on 20th Jan, 2020. HR told me I have to exit on or before 20th January. But, when asked on the expired date, HR told me that they extended the date. Now they are asking me to buy air ticket, and they are paying me only 13 days outstanding salary with food allowance while I worked till 20th. Can you please advise whether I will get paid 100 days salary and return air fare or not.

Name withheld

Answer: You can’t be paid 100 days salary because you have not worked 100 days for the company and if anything to go by you should rather be asked to pay the company 3 months salary in lieu of the 3-month notice period the law mandates you to work for the company before your resignation becomes effective. To be blunt with you, you don’t have any demands to make on the company and should they give you a return ticket to your country, this should be considered as done on compassionate grounds and not something that you deserve as of right.

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I have been working in a private company since 13 years and I haven’t gotten any salary increment since 2015. Please note that my annual review appraisal is very good with very high score since 2007. I just want to know that based on Kuwait Labor Law if I am entitled to a yearly salary review or increment according to the cost of living and yearly inflation in Kuwait.

Name withheld

Answer: The Kuwait Labor Law is silent about the issues you raised in your query and hence not actionable. Individual companies in their attempt to maintain the best of their employees, may take up these issues as part of their company policy and hence incorporate them in the contracts they sign with their employees. If the issue of salary review or increment is part of your contract, then the company has the obligation to see to it that you enjoy that right and if for, one reason or the other it cannot be possible you must demand to know the reasons behind that and when it will be possible for you to enjoy it.

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Hi I just want to ask if my employer has the right to refuse giving me a release, iI will finish my 3rd year working with them this coming Feb 5 2020. What can I do in the event of the company refusing to give me a release?

Name withheld

Answer: Under the labour law, you would have carried out your obligations towards the company by working three years for them. Under the same law, the company is also obliged to release your if you request for a release after three years of service to them. Should the company therefore decide to flout the law by refusing to release you, we advise that you file a case against them at the Public Authority for manpower through the labour office in your area to seek redress.

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Please advise the formalities for transferring residence from Visa 22 to Visa 18. I want to know how much time it will take to transfer my residence to Visa 18 if I am presently working as Visa 22. Also, please advise the educational qualification as I need for transferring the same.

Name withheld

Answer: We begin by cautioning you that it is an offence under the law to work while you are on Visa 22 which is strictly a family and not a work visa. Note therefore, that both you and the company you are working for are breaking the law and will suffer the consequences if you are caught by any of the law enforcement agencies. With regard to formalities, the company representative, who will undertake the transfer processes on your behalf, knows what to do and the time frame within which this can be accomplished depends on how effective the Mandoub or company representative is. With regard to the educational qualification needed for transfer, all that we can say is that if you don’t hold a university degree, you need to have stayed in Kuwait for at least one year before you can transfer from Visa 22 to 18. If you are a graduate, however, you can effect the transfer at any point in time so far as you land a job

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I filed a case in Shoun against my employer to give me release, but unfortunately I lost it and Shoun gave me warning to leave Kuwait within a month, but, I took loan 2 years ago. I still have some amount to pay. While cancelling my residency, do I have to pay all the amount or can I continue the installment from my home country? I have few days left in Kuwait so your early reply will be appreciated. Need you kind advice please.

Name withheld

Answer: Unfortunately, we are not in position to provide you the answers to your questions. We, therefore, advise that as a matter of urgency, you meet your bankers and put your plight before them and we hope they will be in a better position to advise you on how to proceed.

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Hi I have some query regarding the possibility of getting a release. I arrived in Kuwait April 2017 and worked for the company who took me from my home country for 1 year and 6 months then after that they transferred me to a different company in Oct 2018 but with same owner as to my previous company but different company name. I have been working more than a year now in this new company and this April of 2020 will be my 3 years of staying in Kuwait. My question is will I be granted a release visa if none of my stay in a company was straight 3 years but they are owned by the same person who sponsored me to come to Kuwait.

Name withheld

Answer: The main idea behind the 3-year service for the company that brought an employee from his/her home country to Kuwait is to help the company defray the cost of bringing the worker to the country through the services rendered by the worker.

We are therfore of the opinion that by April, 2020 you would have fulfilled the 3 year service requirement regardless of whether the 3-year service was straight or not.

Indeed, your transfer to your sponsors second company was not at your request but his decision, so he can’t use it against you that you did not provide three years straight service to him and hence will not grant you a release.

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