Kuwait’s National Assembly panel passes law to reduce expat numbers

Kuwait’s National Assembly panel passes law to reduce expat numbers

Kuwait's National Assembly panel has passed a draft law to reduce expat numbers in the country over the next five years, local media reported.

However, the panel did not impose specific caps or percentages, Kuwait Times reported.

The main objective of the draft law is to reduce the number of expats, especially unskilled labourers, and rebalance the country's population structure, the report quoted the head of the human resources development committee MP Khalil Al-Saleh as saying.

Kuwait's population currently comprises of 70 per cent foreign workers, but Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah said in June that the Gulf state would like expat numbers to reduce to 30 per cent of the country's population.

Read: Kuwait doesn't want to be an expat-majority nation anymore

The draft law gives the government six months