Kuwait to begin deporting foreign workers without residency permits

Kuwaiti authorities are expected to launch a crackdown on expatriates living in the capital with expired residency permits.

A joint ministerial committee has been tasked with investigating foreign workers in Kuwait City's Jeleeb Al-Shuyoukh - a lower-income area of the country - and will begin deporting expatriates found without valid papers.

They will also clamp down on unregulated food markets, according to local media.

The Gulf state has seen a mass of illegal markets and unlicensed businesses open in the past few years, particularly in areas populated mainly by foreign labour workers, such as Khaitan and Al-Farwaniyah, according to reports.

Kuwait's Al Rai daily said authorities believe there are around 180,000 residents in Kuwait currently without valid residency permits, hitting a new record.

During the first half of 2021, Kuwait deported 7,808 expatriates for a variety of reasons, including violating the residence law, committing crimes, traffic violations, and other issues.

Foreigners make up 70 percent of Kuwait's population, with a very large percentage of those from South Asia.

Kuwait's labour system, which links migrants' residency status to their jobs and gives employers outsized power, prevails across the Gulf Arab states.