Around 100,000 set to leave by year’s end
KUWAIT: Informed security sources told Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas that around 100,000 residents are expected to leave the country for good before the end of the current year after the companies sponsoring them were referred to investigation over charges of visa trafficking, as they are actually jobless in Kuwait. The companies’ files with the Public Authority for Manpower were also blocked.
“Ever since the unprecedented intensified security crackdown on visa traffickers, around 450 companies were referred to investigation in 300 cases,” the sources explained, noting that investigations showed that around 100,000 workers are registered with and sponsored by these companies without having real jobs in Kuwait.
The sources added the workers used to get residency visas from such fake companies in return for money, and then found jobs on their own elsewhere. The sources said the Interior Ministry’s residency investigations directorate had referred 535 people, including 55 Kuwaitis, to investigative authorities for involvement in these cases. “Inspection and search are still in progress for other fake companies,” the sources highlighted, noting some of the concerned workers left as soon as they learned their companies were being investigated and that they would not be able to return to Kuwait, while others are stil waiting for the resumption of flights to their home countries.
Teachers’ shortage
Meanwhile, a well-informed educational official told Al-Rai that the Ministry of Education (MoE) needs to hire 670 teachers and 260 social and psychological workers, noting that only 40 social and psychological workers have so far applied. Meanwhile, sources said MoE’s public education sector is currently listing its needs of various specialties for the coming school year prior to approving the final job vacancy announcement, and warned of shortages of teachers in certain subjects.
The sources also stressed there are no jobs for expats in MoE except as teachers and in ‘rare specialties,’ adding that MoE is one of the leading ministries in terms of commitment to the annual replacement policy set by the Civil Service Commission, as 95 percent of jobs have been Kuwaitized at the ministry, leaving only porters and cleaners and a limited number of legal, accounting and engineering staff members, who are being annually and gradually laid off.