Legal Clinic

  • Acquiring birth certificate of newborn

    Is it possible for me to take birth certificate for my new-born if I am on Article #14 (temporary visa)?

    Name withheld

    Answer: Article 14 visa, as you rightly said, is temporary. It is issued to prevent the recipient from being classified as illegal while he/she awaits the completion of the processes to get a permanent residence visa.

    Getting a birth certificate for your new-born baby will not be easy as you are supposed to meet all the requirements including valid residence (permanent). This not withstanding there is no harm in trying as in some cases exceptions are made.

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

  • Women not allowed to be sponsored by Father once married.

    My wife is currently staying in Kuwait on her dad’s residence. Now she is pregnant and I want to transfer her residence to my sponsorship… is it possible with a KD 300 salary on the work permit. Also what about my baby’s residence after the birth.

    Name withheld

    Answer: You should know that women are not allowed to be sponsored by their fathers as dependents once they are married. They can only be sponsored by their husbands. But now it is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to sponsor your wife or your child because you don’t meet the salary condition of earning at least KD 450 a month.

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

  • Will I face problems for newborn dependent visa?

    I would like to clarify my doubts regarding the new law on dependent visa. My wife is pregnant and planning to deliver in Kuwait in April, 2017. I brought my wife and daughter to Kuwait dependent visas and later transferred wife’s residence to Article 18. She is working now. And my daughter is here still on my sponsorship. My salary is KD 350. Will we face problems to get iqama for our newborn in this situation?

    Name withheld

    Answer: Yes, you will face a slight problem in getting the residence for your newborn because you are earning less than the KD 450 required to get residence for your dependents.

    You are also not allowed club your salaries. You still have a very good chance because the Director General of Immigration has the authority to study and if needed approve applications of those expatriates who are earning less than KD 450, especially if both the parents are already in Kuwait or if the baby is born in Kuwait.

    There are, however, 14 categories which are exempted from the KD 450 minimum salary condition.

    These include advisors, judges, public prosecution staff, legal experts and researchers in the public sector; doctors and pharmacists; professors at universities, colleges and higher institutes; public school principals and vice-principals, education supervisors, teachers, social advisors and laboratory assistants in the public sector; academic, financial and economic consultants; engineers; imams, preachers, muezzins and Quran teachers; librarians in government establishments and private universities; health ministry staff including nurses, paramedics, technicians and social service workers; social workers and psychologists in the public sector; journalists, media staff and reporters; coaches and players affiliated with sports associations and clubs; pilots and flight attendants; and washers and buriers of dead bodies. You will face no problems at all if your designation on the work permit falls into one of the above categories.

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

  • Staying out of country more then 6 months

    I have certain queries … could you guide me:

    1. My wife and 2-year-old daughter are my dependents on visa Article 22. My wife is 3 months pregnant and doctors have suggested that she take complete bed rest until delivery.

    2. She left Kuwait on 29th October -2016 and her expected date of delivery is the last week of April 2017, with the residence expiry date June, 2017.

    3. Is there any possibility of extending her stay out of the country for one more month … total 7 months out of the country?

    4. Is it possible… what do I have to do & who do I need to approach?

    Name withheld

    Answer: This is a very simple procedure and you can easily get permission for your wife to stay out of Kuwait if you follow the following procedure.

    1. Get a letter from the doctor / hospital from where your wife is receiving treatment.

    2. This letter must then be attested by the Foreign Ministry of your country.

    3. Once this letter arrives in Kuwait, get this letter must be attested from your embassy in Kuwait.

    4. This letter must then be attested by the Kuwait Foreign Ministry, located in Shuwaikh opposite the Kuwait Sports Stadium

    5. After the attestation get this letter translated into Arabic

    6. Go to the Immigration Department in your area and get typed an application called “Izne Gayab” (500 fills).

    7. Attach your Passport & Civil ID and both your wife’s and daughter’s passport & Civil ID copies.

    8. Attach 2 passport size photos of your wife and daughter with blue back ground.

    9. Go to the “Izne Gayab” section and submit the application.

    10. You will be given a print out (with the photos attached) granting your wife and child permission to stay outside Kuwait for more than 6 months

    11. You must send this printout to your family and she should carry it when she and the child travel to Kuwait.

    One very important point: You have to submit the application before the six months pass. If you are late by even a few hours, the residence of both your wife and daughter will automatically be cancelled and they won’t be allowed to enter Kuwait until you get new visas.

    Please also make sure also that you get permission for both your wife and daughter. If you get permission only for your wife, your daughter will be stuck in your home country.

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

  • Nurse job contract of 2 yrs but forced to sign 5 years term contract in Kuwait

    I am a nurse hired abroad in December 2013 and we were told that we have a 2-year contract, but after a few months here in Kuwait we were forced to sign a 5-year contract with the clinic, and there is a note that says “5 year fixed term contract, automatically renewed with the consent of both parties”.

    They told us that the 5 years would mean that we cannot transfer to another clinic but we can resign any time after 2 to 3 years. That’s whey we agreed to sign the contact. But now when we hand in our resignation letters we were told that they will accept if we will pay for the remaining 2 years written on the contract or they will send us for fingerprinting and blacklist us.

    ■ Is it true that we need to pay for the remaining 2 years?

    ■ Can they really blacklist us if we do not pay? Thank you. Hope to find the answers to our problem.

    Name withheld

    Answer: Rule of thumb is that your work contract is binding, and if it is stipulated on the contract that you will have to pay for the remaining years then it cannot be avoided. This stands even if what they have told you is otherwise, meaning that even if they didn’t tell you this before you signed the contract, it will still stand in the courts since the courts will deal mainly with what the contract says and not what you were told verbally which contradicts what is in the contract. However, you can always challenge the clinic if you believe that they are treating you unjustly by visiting the Public Authority for Manpower and explaining to them your issue.

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

  • Renewal of baby’s residence – Salary cap below 450 KD

    1. My salary is KD 250. In May I need to renew my baby’s visa. She was born in Kuwait. Will we be able to renew her residence.

    2. My wife was working in Kuwait University from Feb 2011 to 2016 March. After that she resigned and joined some other place during the notice period. The university admin team told us she was eligible for 55 days leave salary settlement, which was almost KD 1,100.

    We cleared all the paperwork but we haven’t got anything till now. Now they tell us the ministry has stopped this settlement for leave. Is it true? If its not, what can we do?

    Name withheld

    Answer: First of all, on the issue of renewal of your baby’s residence, you will not face any difficulty because the decision of increasing the salary cap for dependent visas to KD 450 does not affect expatriates who are already on dependent residence.

    So, just go to the Immigration Department in your area and apply for the renewal of your baby’s residence. You won’t face any difficulty. On the issue of leave salary, we believe that what you have been told is just hearsay so don’t believe in it.

    Your wife must approach the university administration directly and ask for the payment. The university has to make the payment because any other step would be in violation of the Kuwait Labor Law and in such a case you can, only if needed, file a complaint with the Labor Office in your area. As things stand, however, we feel that you will not have to resort to any such action as the university will make the full payment… unless the payment has been stopped for some other reason.

    The only hitch that we see is that you joined any company during the notice period. If you got the university permission to do so, then there should be no problems but if you did so without the permission of the university then the university has the right to deduct money for the uncompleted part of the notice period.

    Send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

  • Acquiring new driving license criteria

    I have a query on the eligibility criteria for applying for a driving license. My work permit states salary as KD 506 and my designation “accountant.” Am I eligible to apply for a driving license or does the salary need to be KD 600? Kindly guide please.

    Name withheld

    Answer: First of all, please note that it is not only the salary which matters in the issuance of the driving license. You are required to meet the following criteria:

    1. Salary must be at least KD 600

    2. Must have been in Kuwait for at least two years at the time of application

    3. Must be a university degree holder. As an accountant you are only exempted from the residency condition (although the director general of the Traffic Department can still give you an exemption), which means you are not eligible for the license because your salary is not enough.

    Send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

  • Indemnity calculation is based on remuneration received

    I was terminated and the company HR told me that the indemnity was to be based on my basic salary only. My basic salary was KD 1441 and I was entitled to get up to KD 500 as a house rent allowance but company paid KD 450 as I produced a KD 450 receipt. So please advise.

    Name withheld

    Answer: The law says the calculation of indemnity should be based on “remuneration”, which according to the Kuwait Labor Law includes the basic salary and all the allowances that you receive regularly. This means that the calculation of your indemnity should be based on KD 1,891 (KD 1,441+KD 450) and not on any other sum. On the issue of the rent allowance, it is what you are paid that matters. Moreover, that is what you were paying to the landlord.

    Send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

  • Pakistani national visa for wife and kids

    I’m a Pakistani nationality holder working in Kuwait from October 2003, my salary is KD 540 and job designation Civil Site supervisor for the last three years. Is it possible for me to apply for a visit visa for my wife and kids?

    Name withheld

    Answer: You are entitled to apply for the visit visa but your application will be approved only if there is a positive answer from the security authorities to who it will be sent. So, apply for the visit visa but keep your fingers crossed … the authorities could surprise you because “ most of the time the answer is in the negative“.

    Send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

  • Annual leave during resignation notice period

    I’ve been working with my employer for 1 year now and I decided to resign. I want to know, if I can still take my paid annual leave within the 3 months notice period upon my resignation? My 3 months notice period will finish in May but I want to take my annual vacation in March, can I still take it? Thank you so much. I really need your advice on this matter.

    Name withheld

    Answer: If you have already tendered in your resignation then you have to serve the three-month mandatory notice period. Your employer if he so desires may allow you to take one month out of the three as your annual leave. On the other hand, you can take your annual leave and upon your return, you tender in your resignation and serve the three-month notice period.

    Send your queries to [email protected] or [email protected]

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