Legal Advice
Legal advice is the giving of a professional or formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law in relation to a particular factual situation. The provision of legal advice will often involve analyzing a set of facts and advising a person to take a specific course of action based on the applicable law.
I am a resigned employee of a private company waiting indefinitely to go on exit after receiving ‘final settlement’. My ‘work permit’ was cancelled in April 2017 soon after the notice period while visa and civil ID is valid up to Feb, 2018. Kindly advise whether it is permitted to travel outside and reenter Kuwait with the visa I am holding now. I have an important family function to attend back home.
Name withheld
Answer: The residence permit is tied to the work permit. This means that if your work permit is cancelled so is your residence permit. However, after the cancellation of the residence permit, a temporary one (visa 14) is given to you to enable you wind up your activities and leave the country.
If you still have your civil ID card with you and the pasted residence permit in your passport is not stamped cancelled, that means your work permit is still intact.
On the other hand, if the work permit was actually cancelled but they failed to stamp your passport cancelled as well as failed to apply for a temporary visa for you, then we are afraid that you are living in Kuwait illegally and must take steps to rectify the situation.
Failing to do this, you risk being deported if you are caught in addition to paying fines for the number of days you have illegally stayed in Kuwait. As for travelling outside Kuwait and returning forget about it if indeed your work permit has been cancelled.
The validity or otherwise of your residence permit can be checked from the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) online. If you check and it is intact, it means, your work permit has not been cancelled as alleged and in that case you can travel outside Kuwait and return.
Source: Arab Times
First I would like to thank you for your valuable information for Arab Times readers. I am 16 months old in Kuwait, I am master degree holder and my salary is KD 450. Designation is Asst Accountant. Kindly let me know am I eligible for driving license.
Name withheld
Answer: Yes, you are because of your accountant designation. Indeed accountants are exempted from both the salary (KD 600) and residence (2 years) conditions. Having said this, it is worth noting that the Traffic Department is the final arbiter and have the right to accept or reject applications even meeting all the requirements.
Source: Arab Times
My wife and child are on visit visa valid till 18-Oct-2017 Shall I apply for extension of Visit Visa? To apply for extension before how many days I need to approach immigration dept for extension Please advise.
Name withheld
Answer: Visit visa for immediate family (wife and children) members has a 3-month validity period which starts from the day of entry. This 3-month stay in Kuwait cannot be extended after expiry. If you do your calculation and Oct 18, 2017 falls within the 3-month validity, this means you cannot apply for extension. If however the calculation shows that your wife and child still have one or two months to stay on Kuwait then you can apply for the extension a day or two before Oct 18.
Source: Arab Times
My daughter was born here in Kuwait, she obtained a residence permit under my sponsorship. My wife and I are working here in Kuwait. We have decided to send our daughter to our home country and let her visa expire, then we bring her back here in Kuwait through visit visa. Is there any way I can make a residence permit for her again? My current salary is KD 300 and my wife’s salary is KD 250. Please advice me, thank you.
Name withheld
Answer: If you send your daughter back to your home country and her residence expires while she is outside, it means you will have to meet the current conditions prevailing to be able to sponsor your daughter again on a dependent visa.
The current condition is that you have to earn a salary of not less than KD 450 to be able to sponsor a family member on dependent visa.
Since your salary is KD 300 and you cannot couple your salary with your wife’s to attain the magical figure, you will not be able to sponsor your daughter again on a dependent visa if she goes back to your home country.
I am presently working in factory. Now I would like to transfer my visa to restaurant. But I heard there is no possibility of transferring any factory visa to any other visa. But I initially came to Kuwait on restaurant visa. Last three transfers were to different restaurants. But now I am working on factory visa. Is there any possibility to change again to restaurant visa?
Name withheld
Answer: As you indicated you initially came to Kuwait on a restaurant visa and have now transferred to a factory visa. To the best of our knowledge, you will have no diffi culty in transferring back to a restaurant visa since the transfer to the factory visa was done locally.
Source: Arab Times
I am presently working in factory. Now I would like to transfer my visa to restaurant. But I heard there is no possibility of transferring any factory visa to any other visa. But I initially came to Kuwait on restaurant visa. Last three transfers were to different restaurants. But now I am working on factory visa. Is there any possibility to change again to restaurant visa?
Name withheld
Answer: As you indicated you initially came to Kuwait on a restaurant visa and have now transferred to a factory visa. To the best of our knowledge, you will have no diffi culty in transferring back to a restaurant visa since the transfer to the factory visa was done locally.
Source: Arab Times
I am working in a private company holding visa 18 … my monthly basic salary is KD 300+KD 120 allowance. My wife is also working in a private company holding visa category 18 and has a montly basic of KD 250+KD 50 allowance. My wife is pregnant and delivery will be done in Kuwait in December. Is it possible to get dependent visa for my child as my basic is KD 300. Will I get any consideration as my child is born in Kuwait?
Name withheld
Answer: To the best of our knowledge, the law on the issue states that in a situation where both the parents are working with valid resident permits, the salaries are of no importance when applying for a dependent visa for a baby born in Kuwait. Having said this, it is not uncommon for some clerks at the Immigration Department to insist on every applicant of dependent visa to meet the salary cap of KD 450 a month. If you find yourself in such a situation, you should demand to see a senior immigration officer and talk over the issue with him or her.
Source: Arab Times