Why is it that expats have to pay the price for the actions of bad sponsors? Why is my perception changing from feeling welcome 10 years ago to now feeling very unwelcome in Kuwait. For 7 years I worked in Saudi Arabia, putting up with having to seek permission, and another lost page in my passport, to be able to go out on leave.

Coming to Kuwait I thought how modern things were in this country compared to the Saudi way. Now Kuwait wants to take a step backwards by imposing the same law on seeking permission from the sponsor before leaving the country.

Name withheld

Answer: So far, the “law” on expatriates getting permission to leave the country is just a proposal and nothing more. Yes, such a “law” if ever implemented would be unwelcome by expatriates but we have to wait and see if it is really passed because it would face a lot of resistance from a number of quarters in the National Assembly and also various human rights groups in the country.

So, lets not jump ship before it hits troubled waters. By the way, such a thing would not be new to Kuwait. While the expatriates in the private sector have been immune to this “law”, those in the government ministries are — since many decades — required to obtain such a permission (it’s called “Ijaza”) from their ministries before they can leave the country.