Filipino citizens will not be able to visit Kuwait visa-free as the Gulf state has introduced a visa pause after reports that the Philippines violated a bilateral labour agreement. This means that Kuwait won’t issue any entry or work visas for Filipino nationals.
According to local media, the Interior Minister, Sheikh Talal al-Khaled al-Sabah, has ordered to put visa issuance on pause, as the news outlet Kuwait Times reported, while the suspension was made due to the Philippines failing to comply with the provisions of the labour agreement between the two countries, VisaGuide.World reports.
Initially, The Philippines prohibited first-time workers, especially domestic workers, from entering Kuwait after a 35-year-old Filipina was brutally murdered by the teenage son of her employer in Kuwait.
In addition, the Philippines government has also recently suspended the accreditation of recruitment agencies in the Gulf state.
A total of 268,000 Filipino nationals are employed in Kuwait, while the Department of Migrant Workers reveals that in 2022, more than 24,000 cases of violation and abuse against Filipino workers were recorded.
According to Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople, a team of officials was ordered to travel to Kuwait back in January to investigate the cause of increasing numbers of cases of abuse against Filipino workers, in addition to working with the Kuwaiti officials to introduce preventive measures.
Ople points out that the most common complaints among Filipinos are sexual abuse and rape, labour contract violations and illegal terminations, as well as human trafficking. Domestic workers in Kuwait have also reported delayed or unpaid salaries, uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, long working hours, and the confiscation of their personal belongings and their passports.
Over 114 Filipino maids left Kuwait in the first week after reports of the domestic worker being killed, while the Ministry of Migrant Labor in the Philippines blacklisted Kuwaiti recruitment offices in order to prevent Filipino workers from being sent to work there.
About ten per cent of the Philippines’ 113 million citizens relocate to other countries in search of better working conditions, as high levels of poverty and unemployment are recorded in the Asian country. Philippines workers work or reside in over 200 nations, and their remittances are crucial to keeping the country’s economy ongoing.
Among the most common nationalities that move to Kuwait include Egyptians (660,000 workers), Palestinians (70,000), Saudis (540,773), and Indians (one million).
Moreover, two-thirds of Kuwait’s population consists of migrant workers who can be subject to abuse due to the kafala system, which allows employers to keep migrant workers if they want to leave or change jobs.
The post Kuwait Suspends Entry & Work Visas for Filipinos Following Bilateral Labour Agreement Violations appeared first on VisaGuide.World.
