Kuwaiti MPs propose cap on foreigners’ employment

CAIRO: A number of Kuwaiti lawmakers have presented a draft bill proposing a quota system for employing foreigners as one way to redress the demographic imbalance in the country, foreign media reported on Thursday.

Foreign workers make up 3.3 million of Kuwait’s 4.6 million population. According to the proposed quota system, the number of Indian workers should not exceed 15 per cent of the overall Kuwaiti population while those of Egyptian expatriates should stand at a maximum 10 per cent, Al Rai newspaper reported Thursday. Indians and Egyptians make up the largest foreign communities in Kuwait.

The draft envisages deporting 844,000 Indians and 500,000 Egyptians, the paper said. The authors of the draft said that the demographic imbalance in Kuwait has spawned problems in recent years, becoming more conspicuous and serious since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Most illegal workers have been found to be residing in densely populated places lacking in health rules, thereby helping spread COVID-19 in Kuwait, according to the report.