I read an article on self-sponsorship on the following link: http:// www.arabtimesonline.com/news/ on-residence-sponsorship-wedding- halls-expats-half-too-many/. Can you please detail the full procedure on how to apply for this facility and obtain self-sponsorship? I was born in Kuwait and have been living here for over 30 years.

Also, what are the requirements? Do the 25 years (as mentioned in the article) have to be continuous? Moreover, under self-sponsorship, can I apply for my wife and children? Can I own or do business under this category without the sponsorship of a Kuwaiti?

Name withheld Answer: We answered the same question about five months ago but just in case you did not see the answer, the same is repeated below for your information and other readers. “You are talking about Article 24 of the Kuwait Residence Law which allows self-sponsorship under various conditions. Initially it was used only for expatriates with trades like tailor, barber, carpenter etc but even this was stopped many years ago. Now again talk has started to allow expatriates to sponsor themselves.

The conditions being mentioned are that the expatriate should have spent at least 25 years (continuously) in the country, should be over 60 years, have at least KD 10,000 in the bank, should have a crime-free stay in the country and should have been owning a business for at least two years or earning at least KD 500 per month… this is in addition to having high academic qualifications.

The expatriate who gets sponsorship under this article will be allowed to sponsor his family and also domestic servants. Having said all the above, implementation of the above article is very rare for one obvious reason — a lot of changes have been made to this article and as such this article needs to be again passed by the National Assembly if self-sponsorship is to be allowed under the above conditions.

So, all you can do is wait for the new (reconditioned) article to be passed … until then you could try and get self-sponsorship if you are from one of the above trades”.