Several lawmakers have threatened to grill the Minister of State for Economic Affairs. Mariam Al-Aqeel if she fails to fix the prevailing “chaos” in issuing work permits by the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), and other issues related to the growing number of expatriates in the country.

The parliamentarians called for a meeting with the minister before the next term of Parliament to discuss the issues, as well as those related to Kuwait’s demographic imbalance despite official promises and increased public dismay over the uncontrolled increase in expat populations in the workplace at the expense of citizens.

The lawmakers said the meeting with the minister, which could be held in September or early October, will be open to all parliamentarians and not just members of the parliamentary health, social affairs and finance committees.

Further, several parliamentarians alleged that PAM had been very liberal in issuing work permits to marginal laborers, with the result that over 70 percent of expats in Kuwait do not have university degrees.

In addition, the sources said a government-parliament agreement had been made to limit the number of work permits issued to a certain expat community because their population had grown to become as much as Kuwaitis, and this posed a threat to national security. But the lawakers alleged that nothing had been done to implement this agreement, other than wait for a quota to be fixed for each expat community in Kuwait.

Meanwhile, informed sources at PAM have announced launching online transfers of expats through the As’hal (Easier) services for employers, which provides first-time work permit issue, work permit renewals for expats and work permit renewals and adjustments for Kuwaiti workers, in addition to various other services and forms that can be accessed online.


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