Kuwait's Expat Quota Bill: 8 Lakh Indians To Face Ouster After Bill Gets Approved | Know How & Why

Kuwait's Expat Quota Bill: The bill seeks to propose a quota system to limit the number of expatriates in the country, in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kuwait International Airport / Representational Image (Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT / AFP)

New Delhi: Kuwait National Assembly’s legal and legislative committee has approved the draft expat quota bill, which caps the number of foreigners residing in the Persian Gulf nation. The move can force around 8 lakh Indians to leave the country. A report in Gulf News, which cited a local media report said that the National Assembly’s legal and legislative committee has determined that the draft expat quota bill is constitutional. Know the bill: The bill seeks to propose a quota system to limit the number of expatriates in the country, in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to latest data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 49,000 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the country. According to the proposed quota system, the numbers 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. It is pertinent to note that Indians and Egyptians are among the largest foreign communities in Kuwait. 8 lakh Indians  to be affected: Gulf News reported that the legislation could result in 800,000 Indians leaving Kuwait, as the Indian community constitutes the largest expat community in Kuwait, totalling 1.45 million'. Of the 4.3 million population of Kuwait, expats account for 3 million. What forms the base for the bill? The said ‘demographic imbalance’ in Kuwait is what its leaders had been seeking to get to the bottom of, since long now. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and a plunge in oil prices, the resolve got an added push. Last month in June, Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah had said that the country’s expatriate population should be slashed by more than half, to reach 30% of the total population. It is important to note that Kuwait has 4.8 million people out of which 3.4 million which is almost 70% of the population, are foreigners. Foreigners account for nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s 4.8 million people, and “we have a future challenge to redress this imbalance,” the Prime Minister had earlier stated. Foreign nationals make up the majority of the population in the GCC (Gul Cooperation Council) countries, chiefly in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE, as per the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The demographic imbalance in Kuwait has spawned problems in recent years, becoming more obvious and grave since the spread of the coronavirus, the authors of the bill believe. The anti-expat rhetoric has gained momentum in Kuwait with the Covid-19 outbreak, with many lawmakers and governmental officials calling for reducing the number of foreigners in the country. The Bill is to be transferred to the respective committee so that a comprehensive plan is created. In April, the Kuwait government had announced a pardon plan for those migrants in the country who are residing illegally  to encourage them to depart, offering them exemption from punishment and free home return flights. Also Watch: Kuwait's new law might deport 8 lakh Indians back (additional inputs from agencies)