Egyptian expats in Kuwait
according to a report issued by the egyptian central agency for statistics, which was published by the al-rai daily to a few days ago, show that the number of egyptians who entered kuwait in 2018 was huge, at an average of 8,000 egyptians per month or about 270 per day and probably not much less than this number in 2019.
the report revealed some 100,000 new work permits were issued to egyptians in 2018 and a further 132,000 were renewed. kuwait is ranked second after saudi arabia in terms of permits issued to egyptians to work in the arab countries with 230,000 permits, including 221 thousand males, and about 9 thousand females, which constitute about 22.1 percent of the total work permits in the arab countries.
the report showed that a majority of those are with either very low educational qualifications, or no qualification or no education at all and the proportion of these is more than 70%. considering saudi arabia’s population and its enormous area compared to kuwait which employs 50 percent of all workers in the arab countries, we find that the number of work permits for egyptians in kuwait is the highest and unprecedented where the number exceeds 700 thousand, a burden on the infrastructure, on roads and medical and security services and the egyptian consulate which handles the affairs of the community in kuwait will be the source of headache wherever it is located.
the problem of the recent fish market auctions and the majority of egyptian fishermen’s alliance with the kuwait fishermen’s union, which is perhaps the only union whose name does not match the bodies and work of its members, showed the seriousness of what we warned of about not handing over any facility to any sole party especially if it concerns a major and strategic food wealth as long as they are available at the cheapest price.
the problem is not in the large numbers of the egyptian community, they are in their second home and they are welcome, but in the fear that this increase is abnormal and is not required at all but the situation has been created by mafia gangs which trade in visas.
the recruitment of the egyptians requires lengthy procedures including documentation and authentication of the required documents, paying various fees before obtaining work permits all in cooperation with the embassy of kuwait in cairo or so presumably.
we have reiterated more than once that the security of the homeland is a priority and must not be subjected to any leniency and no facility or activity shall be under the control of any one category, and it is necessary to modify the current dangerous situation or at least anticipate its serious consequences in future.
a day will come when deportation threats or cancelling residence permits shall not be enough. people have rights, and innocent people may be affected through arbitrary decisions and this will prompt actors to intervene in internal affairs in defense of the rights of these and others.
