Legal Clinic

Can you advise what is the procedure to obtain dependent visa for my daughter aged 14 years who is in India. I meet the salary cap criteria.

Name withheld

Answer: You will need the following documents to apply for a dependent visa for your daughter:

1. Photocopy of your daughter’s passport.

2. Civil ID copies of you and your wife.

3. An affidavit, attested by your embassy and Kuwait’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Shuwaikh) confirming your relation with the person for whom you want the visa.

4. Your work permit that shows you are earning a salary of KD 450 or over.

Attach the above documents to an application and submit the same to the Immigration Department in your area and your application will be processed which just takes a day to approve or be rejected.

Kindly send your queries to arabtimesonline.com or [email protected]

What is the procedure to transfer from Article 22 visa to Article 18?

When my wife came to Kuwait, she had work visa (18). After 4 years we changed this to dependent visa (22) now going to complete 2 years. We are planning to change this visa to work visa (18) is it possible?

Name withheld

Answer: Yes, it is possible to change your wife’s dependent visa (22) to work visa (18). Granting that she gets a job offer, you as husband and therefore her sponsor, will need to give her a release letter so that the company which has offered her a job can apply for a work permit for her.

When this is done your wife will sign a contract with the company and provide the required documents to the mandoub who will do the rest of the work at the Immigration Department of the Public Authority for Manpower and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor.

Kindly send your queries to arabtimesonline.com or [email protected]

Dear Sir, This is to acquire information on the residence status in Kuwait in the following circumstances. Due to some reasons the immigration department issues 3 or more months extension of residence under 14. ID of the person will be invalid during this period of extension. Please clarify whether the person’s status will be resident or non resident while he is on extension?

During this period whether he will be able to do remittances with his ID card? Or whether he has to produce the original Passport, for remittances? Appreciating your early response. Thanking you

Name withheld

Answer: Article 14 visas are temporary residence permits issued to legal residents who for various reasons have the processes of renewing their permanent resident permits delayed but which are in progress of being renewed.

The main reason behind the issuing of Article 14 visa is to prevent the recipient from being classified as illegal resident.

In as much as one’s permanent residence visa is not cancelled and one leaves the country one remains a resident.

The validity of your Civil ID is linked to the validity of your permanent residence permit. Hence if you are on Visa 14 you will need your original passport to be able to transfer money outside Kuwait since the banks or money exchanges will not accept an expired Civil ID.

Kindly send your queries to arabtimesonline.com or [email protected]

I have a question regarding my residence transfer. I joined a company in November and they transferred my residence during my probation period there, within the probation period they decided to terminate my services and I got a new job immediately.

My current company says they will transfer my residence only after the probation period, whereas my pervious sponsor is forcing me to transfer my residence immediately otherwise they will put a case against me in the shuoon. Do they have the right to force me to transfer my residence immediately or do I have 3 months (as I am on my probation) to transfer my residence? Will really appreciate your help.

Name withheld

Answer: Under the law, your old company has to keep your residence while you are on probation with your new company. Your previous company is therefore not on the side of the law by trying to force you to transfer your residence immediately to your new company. The old company can’t file a case against you but if it does, it will come out the loser since the law is not on its side.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I am currently employed in a company in an administrative designation (salary 400+KD) at the same time I am having a BS in Computer Engineering (5 years).

Kindly advise me if I am entitled to have a driving license.

Name withheld

Answer: We are sorry, but you cannot apply for a driving license as you do not meet the salary cap of KD 600 which is now in force.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I am a staff nurse working in the private sector. My salary is KD 350. I want to know if I can apply for a family visa for my wife. Please give me reply.

Name withheld

Answer: No, you cannot, because your salary falls short of the KD 450 salary cap required to sponsor your wife or child on a family visa.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

Me and my husband are working in Kuwait. My husband’s salary is KD 250 and my salary is KD 300. Can we get visit visa for our 1-year-old baby and is it possible to transfer to dependent visa? Please give me correct answer.

Name withheld

Answer: Yes, you can apply for a visit visa for your baby but unfortunately you cannot transfer this to a dependent visa since your husband who is legally permitted to sponsor someone on a dependent visa does not qualify to do so because of his KD 250 salary which is below the minimum KD 450 required.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I am an ardent reader of your newspaper and follow articles on the Legal Clinic as well. I thank you for the proper response to variety of problems.

I have one query as below: My daughter was born in 1994 and we came to Kuwait in 2009 and she joined school here from 10th standard. Later she went back to India for further education in 2012. We did not renew her residency when it expired due to our other financial responsibilities.

However, now that she has completed her graduation, we want to bring her back on dependent visa as she is not married. Our request for bringing her to Kuwait was denied with the explanation that she has crossed the age limit to be sponsored as dependent.

My husband’s salary on work permit is KD 700. I am constantly reading that in certain cases if the application is submitted to the Director-General of Immigration, it will be granted. I want your kind assistance in this matter. I would also like to know that if I need to submit the application where should I go and submit the application.

Name withheld

Answer: It is true that the Director-General of Immigration in some cases can exercise his discretion to grant an applicant’s request on an issue that will not be ordinarily granted by a subordinate officer.

Having said this, we would like to add that, booking an appointment with the Director-General especially if it not with the recommendation of a junior officer, is not an easy task.

Your case puts you in a very difficult situation as the original application was rejected with the reason that your daughter has crossed the age limit to qualify for sponsorship.

If this rejected application is presented to the officer in charge of booking appointments to see the Director-General, he is most likely to prevent you from going forward.

However, there is no harm in trying, you could be lucky, who knows? The Director-General’s office is in Farwaniya Immigration Department.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I am currently working in Kuwait, under contract. I’ve lived here 10 months and have been exposed to several episodes of concern, which I’d like to report.

My employment contract outlines the following.

We would like to offer you below benefits with daily 8 working hours, 6 days a week:

■ Salary: 1,000 KD (around 3,000 euros)

■ Health Insurance

■ Accommodation

■ Transportation (car facility)

■ One month vacation with salary annually

We hope our offer meets your satisfaction & you can join immediately to start work with us in our head office.

Sadly, the licensing rules have changed in Kuwait and my employer could not let me apply for a driver’s license, but I was never compensated for the lack of transportation, negatively affecting the quality of my work and life, as well as costing me around KD 2.000, over 10 months.

Despite the above, I continued my work, and we were fortunate to generate sales and profit for the company.

Regarding accommodation, the employer agreed to pay me KD 300 monthly to cover the rent for a Salmiya 1 bedroom apartment. I have signed a lease and the lease will expire on Aug 1, 2017 so I’m still under contractual obligation.

This month the employer stopped the rent payment as he stated I should move to another flat, shared among 3 people. I find this unacceptable and in breach with the lease contract which I still need to honor.

Besides, the employer knows that I came with 2 domestic cats and it will be impossible for me to move in an apartment with 2 other people. I have been working and living abroad for 20 years, between USA, Australia, South Africa, and Uruguay, but I’ve never faced with such situation.

I need to expose this and please to ask for your advice on how to receive my transportation allowance as well as the rent money to honour my lease agreement.

Name withheld

Answer: You accepted to work for the company based on the conditions spelt out in the job offer and we assume that these conditions are also captured in the work contract you signed. If our assumption is correct, then the company cannot vary the terms of the contract to their advantage and to your disadvantage.

In this case, you can file a complaint to the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor through the labour office in the area you reside if the company insists on the contract variation.

On the other hand if no contract was signed, the job offer letter could still be of value to you in your fight to demand strict observance of the terms of agreement between you and the company as spelt out in the job offer or the contract signed.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

I just want to ask for help with regard to my baby born in Kuwait. I want to get a dependent visa for him, but my salary is KD 100 and my wife’s salary is KD 650. What should I do? My sponsor is ready to increase my salary to KD 450. My visa expires on 10/11/2017.

Name withheld

Answer: Your wife’s salary of KD 650 is more than enough but unfortunately the laws of Kuwait do not permit women to sponsor their children even though some exceptions are sometimes made to this rule. Your sponsor’s offer to increase your salary to KD 450 must be reflected in your work permit and if this is done successfully you will have no difficulty in getting a dependent visa for your child. Your application will however be rejected if your sponsor’s offer is in the form of a salary certificate.

We must also caution that an application to change a salary of KD 100 to KD 450 might raise eyebrows at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour when such applications are lodged. If no tangible explanation is given for such an astronomical increase in salary the application might be rejected.

Kindly send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]