Kuwait City: Between January 12 and February 7, 9,296 expats’ work permits were cancelled, according to statistics revealed by the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM).

Of those, 5,000 permits belong to expats stuck outside of Kuwait, which were not renewed.

PAM’s report indicated that 183 people changed over to a dependent visa, a permit which allows expats residing in Kuwait to sponsor their family members. Some of those who transferred to dependent visas are expats who were affected by the new law, which went into effect at the beginning of the year. It stipulates that work permits for non-Kuwaitis above the age of 60, whose qualifications are only a high school diploma or below, will not be renewed.

As for citizens, PAM cancelled 1,322 Kuwaitis’ contracts as their services have been terminated.

Cancellation of permits

Last month, PAM published a report that showed that around 12 expatriates are leaving the Kuwaiti job market every hour, Al Rai reported.

The reasons for their departure differ, but most commonly it is due to expired residency permits that haven’t been renewed or expats leaving Kuwait indefinitely.

From January 12 to January 24, PAM pointed out that 3,627 work permits of expats were cancelled. Of those 1,538 were cancelled due to visa expiration, 230 were work permits belonging to expats who passed away and 1,859 were cancelled because said person left the country.

Departure of expats

In the fourth quarter of 2020, a recent report revealed that 83,574 expats left Kuwait permanently, Al Qabas reported.

A month ago, official figures published by Al Rai, estimated that there were around 3.3 million expats residing in Kuwait prior to the pandemic, and that number has dropped to 2.65 million in recent months.