Labour to announce mechanism for expulsion of 100,000 expats yearly
‘No more transfer of family visit visas’
KUWAIT CITY, April 13: Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Thikra Al-Rashidi said the ministry will soon announce the mechanism for the expulsion of 100,000 expatriates every year, reports Al-Jarida daily.
In a recent press statement, Al-Rashidi con- firmed the ministry is determined and serious in its bid to expel a million expatriates within 10 years to fix the loopholes in the local labor market. She said this is one of the priorities of the ministry as part of its program to support national manpower in the private sector.
It can be recalled that the members of the Parliament expressed contradicting views on the ministry’s plan with some of them supporting it while others consider the move a violation of human rights.
Al-Rashidi also issued a decision banning the transfer of commercial visit visas to work permits in the private sector, justifying the move as a way to organize the foreign workforce and to fix the lopsided population structure.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior has suspended the processing of applications to transfer family visit visas to dependent visas (Article 22) or work permits (Article 18).
Reliable sources from the ministry said the Immigration Department no longer accepts applications for the transfer of family visit visas to dependent or work visas for all nationalities. Sources clarified the family visit visa is valid only for three months and it is not extended unless for
KUWAIT CITY, April 13: The Overseas Absentee Voting (OAV) for Filipinos in Kuwait kicked off on Saturday at the Philippine Embassy in Faiha. The OAV which will run for one month until May 13 will allow Filipinos in Kuwait and various parts of the world to cast votes for 12 senators and one party-list candidate. The Philippine Commission on Elections officials, Commissioner Lucenito Tagle and COMELEC Spokesperson Attorney James Jimenez flew in to Kuwait earlier this week to conduct OAV training for the embassy staff who will oversee the OAV in Kuwait. They also held an orientation for the Filipino community leaders on the automated election system which will be implemented for the first time in Kuwait.
Kuwait along with Hong Kong, Singapore, Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates will have automated polling centres because of the huge number of registered voters in the said areas. Kuwait has 30,468 registered Overseas Absentee Voters (OAVs) and with the reinstatement of over 10,000 voters who were earlier delisted due to failure to vote in two consecutive years during the 2007 and 2010 elections, over 40,000 are expected to vote in the OAV. The Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines will be used for the first time in Kuwait in Kuwait and the aforementioned countries for the automated election system.
“There are over 700,000 overseas absentee voters and over 300,000 are expected to vote in the automated election system. This is a huge number however will you cut it and depending on the turn-out, it could be very significant and this could bring the swing vote especially to those in the last positions vying for the senatorial seats,” explained Jimenez. He added that the votes of the Filipinos overseas may either make or break the chances of the senatorial candidates of get- ting elected. “This is the chance of the Filipinos overseas to choose competent and upright leaders in the senate so they have to vote wisely,” he stressed.
There are 33 precincts and four PCOS machines in Kuwait. Precincts 1 to 8 (from surname A M Salem, Celia Garcia to Castro, Fernando Jr Piquiero) will be under PCOS 1; Precincts 9 to 16 ( from Castro, Floro Gomez to Jaba, Roma Kahal) under PCOS 2); Precincts 17 to 24 (from Jabagat, Annamie Maliguid to Pansoy, Lecilia Juegos); Precincts 25 to 33 (Panta, Joylyn Dati to Zuniga, Winnie Barral) under PCOS 4. At the entrance of the gate 2 of the embassy, some embassy staff are assigned at the desk to inform the voters on their respective precinct.
Earlier during the orientation with the Filipino community, Jimenez advised the voters not to over vote and leave any mark on the ballot. “You should shade within the designated circle on the ballot and a specialized pen will be used at the polling centre. Please do not over vote. You should only vote for 12 senators and 1 party list representative. You can vote for less than 12 senators but not more than 12 otherwise, your vote will be wasted and not be counted,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Tagle assured the Filipinos in Kuwait on the reliability of the results of the PCOS machines. “The results in Kuwait will be stored in the CF cards and will not be transmitted immediately to the Philippines since the OAV will run for one month. The CF cards will then be sent to the Philippines. We are very certain that it’s100% tamper free although there may have been glitches earlier but we have already remedied all these things,” he reiterated to the Arab Times.
During the first day of the OAV, only a few people arrived at the embassy to vote. “The PCOS machine is really good. I got to vote hassle-free. I just shaded the ballot and presto after feeding it to the PCOS machine, it’s all done. The election is very organised this time,” stated Marissa Marquez Princeton who was among the first batch who voted together with her two brothers.
Spotted also during the first day of the OAV were Philippine Charge d’Affaires Attorney Raul H Dado, Vice Consul Sheila Monedero and Labour Attache David Des Dicang. “They should exercise their right of suffrage and it’s good to be able to do it overseas,” pointed out Dicang who was one of those who voted on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Dado urges all registered OAVs in Kuwait to go out and vote. “Please do not wait for the last minute. The embassy is open to all Overseas Absentee Voters from Saturday to Thursday from 9 am to 5 pm and on Fridays from 11 am to 7 pm to accommodate more voters especially the Household Service Workers. On May 13, the last day, it will be from 8 am to 2 pm,” he informed.