Expats have to pay now a fee of KD 10 while receiving treatment at public hospitals, the health ministry said. The measure aims to ease congestion at public hospitals, while allowing government-run clinics to take in more patients, the ministry said in a statement. But informed sources said the health ministry plans to limit treatment in government hospitals only for the Kuwaitis, and the expats to go to private hospitals or health insurance hospitals. The sources says, the ministry believes that improving health services and giving the best medicines cannot be achieved unless the number of patients is reduced, as currently expat patients make up three times that of Kuwaitis. The sources added that the health ministry recommended the Cabinet earlier to consider imposing health insurance on expats so they approach the private sector, or increasing fees in government hospitals temporarily, until the private sector absorbs all expat patients. Courtesy: Kuwait Times To view other related news, click the below tags

Few of the female kindergarten teachers have requested the Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Hamed Al-Azmi to begin early, the academic year holidays for teachers, as the kids would complete their exams by early May, reports Al- Anba daily. The teachers explained that there will be no work for them in school after the graduation of students on May 2nd  before the beginning of Ramadan, indicating all kindergartens will be closed except the schools’ departments and teachers’ room in the absence of students. Therefore, it’s unreasonable to continue working until Eid Al-Fitr they added. Courtesy: Arab times To view other related news, click the below tags

Hike in expats health insurance:Sources told Kuwait times that the company, which provides health insurance for expats, would be at a cost of KD 130 during the first two years (2020-21), then KD 150 (2022-23), KD 170 (2024-25) and KD 190(2026-27). Therefore, by 2020 it will generate KD 520 million for the first two years of the contract, KD 600 million for 2022-2023, KD 680 million for 2024-2025 and KD 760 million for 2026-2027 to provide annual health insurance However, the sources warned that it would affect many expats who work for low wages and due to rapidly increasing cost of living in Kuwait. Courtesy: Kuwait Times To view other related news, click the below tags

18 No Visa renewal refused if the sponsor co. license expiring within 6 months The Residence Affairs Department refuses to renew the residence permit of Article 18 expatriate workers if the validity of the commercial license of the company they work for is less than six months. Sources told Arab Times that the representatives of several companies recently visited the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to allow them to waive the remaining period of their commercial licenses so that necessary measures can be taken to renew these licenses. The aim is to help their companies to renew the work permit of their expatriate employees for one year. The sources pointed out that the Residence Affairs Department has informed these companies that work permit cannot be renewed for one year if the commercial license which is issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MCI) is valid for less than six months and this situation has prompted the companies to ask the MCI to waive the remaining period. The sources said the MCI will facilitate the business owners and improve the environment of their work, and will agree to renew the licenses as long as it is at their request, indicating […]

Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) announced that the carrier might have to cancel some of its flights and merge with others due to a delay in receiving new aircraft. In a press statement, KAC said delivery of new Airbus A320 aircraft from the manufacturer got postponed from March to June, October and November. This came as the airline suspended operations of its old planes from April 1, 2019 pending their sale, but it anticipates receiving new leased planes within a fortnight. KAC added that it is currently working hard to resume its normal operations in a few days and vowed to find alternative flights for passengers affected by the changes, apologizing for the inconvenience. Courtesy: Kuwait Times To view other related news, click the below tags

  Kuwait MoH in order to cut expenses, attain health security and prevent the entry of unfit people, announced a new list of 21 diseases and ailments that prevents newly-recruited expatriates from entering Kuwait, sources told Kuwait Times The new list includes brittle diabetes, irregular high blood pressure, cancer, strabismus (being cross-eyed), weak eyesight, kidney failure, lameness, contagious diseases, HIV, hepatitis B and C, microfilaria, malaria, leprosy, pulmonary tuberculosis, tinnitus, fibrosis and calcification of the lungs, inflammation of the pleura, hypertrophy contractions, pregnancy (for women applying for jobs) and other conditions due to which an expat applying for a visa to enter Kuwait will be deemed unfit and rejected. The sources justified the measure by the health ministry as an attempt to prevent overburdening the ministry budget, as expats with such conditions will cost a lot to be treated as now when the ministry is cutting its expenses. Notably, the sources stressed that expats with valid residencies in Kuwait who are diagnosed with any of the abovementioned diseases will not be deported, except those with infectious and contagious diseases like AIDS, hepatitis B and C and tuberculosis. Courtesy: Kuwait Times To view other related news, click the below tags

The Ministry of Education’s (MOE) public education sector prepared lists including the names of 365 expat teachers to be terminated by the end of this school year (2018-2019) upon CSC’s request to replace them with Kuwaiti teachers. Educational sources told Kuwait Times that the list has been submitted to the minister for approval, adding that the terminated teachers include those for Islamic studies, social studies, electricity, psychology, biology, history and computers. The sources also expected that once approved, the list will be passed to the relevant educational areas to notify the concerned teachers. Courtesy: Kuwait Times To view other related news, click on the tags below  

The Traffic Department’s Assistant Director General for Traffic Regulations Col Yousuf Al-Khaddah issued a decision banning the issuance of driving licenses to muezzins and nurses. A source said the ban on these two groups is due to the fact that the majority of muezzins stay in the mosques where they work. As for nurses, they are supposed to travel in health ministry buses. Courtesy: Kuwait Times Click the tags or the folder below to view other related news

308 people belonging to the same tribe of Iraqi origins holds forged citizenship, the informed sources explained that residency detectives had been working on this case for a while and found that four out of the five main suspects involved in it had died and the fifth is currently in his sixties. The story begins how as when a Kuwaiti – who was infertile – got married to an Iraqi woman who had four children from an earlier marriage to an Iraqi, and the citizen added them to his citizenship files as his own, and they got Kuwaiti citizenship, for their children and grandchildren, and enjoyed all privileges granted to citizens. The one who got arrested, confessed that his Iraqi mother added him and his three Iraqi brothers to her Kuwaiti husband’s dossier, where all his brothers died. However, further investigations proved that the total number of the four fake citizens’ children and grandchildren add up to 308, who have been enjoying citizen privileges for decades. Courtesy: Kuwait News

Directorate General of Civil Aviation Director Yousef Al-Fauzan announced new parking fees for Terminal 4 parking lot, i.e, the first hour would cost 500 fils, 500 fils for the second hour and KD 1 per hour or part of an hour thereafter in the short-term parking area. He said KD 2 would be collected daily in the long-term parking area. In case of losing the parking ticket or parking without obtaining one, the motorist will pay a fine of KD 10 plus the parking fees. And the vehicles parked in no-parking zones will be towed and impounded. Courtesy: Kuwait News

Kuwait has eagerly taken the challenge to claim a place in the Guinness Book of World Records through the world’s longest national flag, which comes within the framework of Kuwait’s national celebrations. Mubarak Al-Kabeer Educational Directorate of the Ministry of Education is adapting to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by formulating a celebration of carrying the longest national flag with a length of 2,019 meters, with participation of more than 4,000 students and teachers on Sunday February 10. The ceremony will be held under the auspices of Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Dr Hamid Al-Azmi, with the presence of Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Civil Defense and international arbitrators. As part of preparations for this national occasion, Chairman of Mubarak Al-Kabeer Educational Directorate Mansour Al-Dehani has constituted a number of committees to work on arranging and preparing for the ceremony, which will witness the attendance of parents of students and many citizens and residents. This celebration coincides with Kuwait’s 58th Independence Day, 28th Liberation Day and the 13th anniversary of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s assumption of power. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

The general directorate for residency affairs took a step to counter manipulations, instructed all its sub-departments not to issue ‘absence permits’ for expat students studying overseas unless they provide –  ‘to whom it may concern’ certificates from their universities after endorsing it from Kuwaiti embassies in the country where they study. Security sources explained that expat students studying abroad are usually given a three-month absence permit after staying abroad for six months in order to maintain the validity of their residency visas, provided they include endorsed certificates from their universities. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

The interior ministry’s residency affairs directorate announced new regulations for issuing various types of visit visas; it directed various department managers to set a minimum salary of KD 500 for sponsors applying for visit visas for their parents or in-laws. The instructions also authorized various immigration managers to set the visit period for parents and in-laws at 30 days for family visit visas and 90 days for tourist visit visas according to the sponsors’ jobs, circumstances and the reason for the visit. The new instructions limits siblings’ visit visas to 30 days and still continues in the suspension of all visit visa extensions. Courtesy: Kuwait Times  

Kuwait Municipality already suffers from the shortage of expats employees, namely engineers, but still the Civil Service Commission (CSC) insists on imposing the replacement policy on those jobs for the fiscal year 2019-2020, as it recently requested terminating the contracts of 28 out of 179 engineers, Al-Qabas reported. A letter was sent by the CSC pointing out that 72 out of 536 expat employees working in various departments have to be laid off, adding that a study had been made in collaboration with the finance ministry in this regard. Notably, the total workforce of Municipality is 5,522 – 4,986 citizens and 536 non-Kuwaitis. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

An official source at the Manpower authority said a circular was issued, which allows the residency renewal for those with the profession of “Manager” and without university degree, who has began working in Manager position before Jan 1,2011 and it is recorded in the work permit, which will be renewed automatically Whereas for those who joined after Jan 1,2011, there will be no renewals unless he/she has university degree. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

At the White House, First lady Melania Trump has designed a colorfully patriotic theme — dubbed “American treasures” — for the holiday decorations now on display, showcasing America’s heritage. During December, the White House will host more than 100 open houses, many receptions, and more than 30,000 visitors on public tours. In the East Wing, guests will see the Gold Star Family tree, decorated by Gold Star military families to honor the sacrifices of U.S. troops. Visitors are invited to write messages to their loved ones stationed abroad, using digital tablets. The East Room pays tribute to the diversity and ingenuity of American architecture and design, with four custom mantelpieces depicting the skylines of New York City, St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco. Vivid red topiary trees line the East Colonnade, their color symbolizing valor and patriotism. The gingerbread house. The 2018 version replicates the full expanse of the National Mall: the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument and the White House itself.   The official White House Christmas tree, nestled in the Blue Room, is dressed in blue velvet ribbon embroidered in gold with the names of each U.S. state and territory. “This is a […]

Health Minister Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah has referred alleged violations and corruption in the appointment of Indian nurses in the ministry to the public prosecution for legal investigations, a lawmaker said. MP Rakan Al-Nasef tweeted that he had sent a question to the health minister about the suspected violations involved in the appointment and the minister had told him that it has been referred to the prosecution. Nasef said the question was raised during the grilling of a former health minister. The lawmaker claimed during the grilling that hundreds of nurses were appointed in the ministry after paying large amounts of bribes to senior ministry officials and middlemen. A court trying ministers began last week procedures for the possible trial of former health minister Ali Al-Obaidi and several former top officials over the alleged violations. It was not immediately known if the Indian nurses’ case is among the cases the former officials are being investigated for. Last August, Kuwait Times highlighted the condition of 80 Indian nurses who were promised jobs in Kuwait was stuck here for more than two years due to delay in paperwork and red tape. The nurse group, with all qualifications were recruited by the health […]

Advisory issued by India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Nov 14, 2018 Rule is applicable From Jan 1st 2019 The registration is mandatory for all Indians heading for jobs in 18 countries for work (all the ECNR passport holders) Countries are: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, the UAE and Yemen. Register on E-migrate portal – www.emigrate.gov.in (Registration is for free) The requirement is to register at least 24 hours prior and before 21 days to departure(from India) to allow sufficient time for information to be passed on to the emigration counter for verification. Below are the details to be noted: Those already working overseas are not required to register while they are overseas. However, if they come to India on vacation and are returning for work, they will need to register. This is only a one-time requirement for a given employment duration For ECR holders, If they had gone initially thru’ eMigrate, they must have gone through EC route while holding ECR passport. No registration is required for them unless they replace their passports with an ECNR category one.Their category will change to ECNR if the person […]

Finance Minister Nayef Al-Hajraf, Health Minister Sheikh Dr Bassel Al-Sabah and Amiri Diwan Undersecretary Sheikh Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah recently met six international medical groups to choose one among the six to administer the Jahra Medical City, informed sources said. The sources added that an American medical group will most likely be selected as per the achievements by the group in Abu Dhabi. The sources also noted that the estimated cost of managing the city varies between KD 100 million and KD 200 million for a period of five to 10 years. Also to be noted that the American Henry Ford Medical Group already runs a hospital in Riyadh. Notably, Jahra Medical City has a bed capacity of 1,234 in eight main buildings and the project is located over a total area of 235,000 sq m. It is expected to be completed within three years at a total cost of KD 354 million. Courtesy: Kuwait News

The Public Authority of Manpower canceled thousands of expatriates’ job titles who had work permits and hold higher positions in the private sector after when they identified that they have no higher qualifications or their certificates are not documented by their country and not certified by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A government source revealed to Al-Rai that “the Authority has set a condition for renewing the work permit of those with the highest qualifications, which is to provide the original certificate of the academic qualification documented or attested by the official authorities in countries where the certificate is issued and by the relevant authorities in Kuwait, renewing it periodically. The source explained that the Commission found thousands of files without the qualifications of higher job title, which made them cancel their job titles and there were some cases having a qualification but without attestation and with no consent. Some expatriates refused to stay back in Kuwait after the modification of their job title and left the country, and some modified their job title from higher to a delegate post. The government source also said that this step will significantly contribute to the limitation of the population structure and […]

Kuwait’s General Directorate of Civil Aviation announced yesterday, the suspension of any departure of flights from Kuwait International Airport and transit flights to the airports of the Kingdom of Bahrain International, Dammam, and Dubai International. Deputy Director-General for Kuwait Airport Affairs Fahad Al-Waqayan told Kuwait News Agency(KUNA) The flights to Kuwait International Airport have been diverted due to bad weather due to the intensity of rain affecting the visibility. Al-Waqayan said airlines were advised to inform passengers of the new dates for their flights The country is currently experiencing an unstable weather and a moderate to a heavy thunderstorm in some areas Predictions of continued instability in the weather until Friday morning and is expected to improve gradually before noon. Courtesy: KUNA

The ministerial service committee rejected the proposal from the traffic council, which came out with the proposal to banning cars on road, which is more than 10 year old. The informed sources says that this is just one of the several proposal put forth by the traffic council in order to reduce traffic congestion. It is the Environment Public Authority, which presented the proposal as the cars in the Kuwait high temperature, will perform well for not more than seven years. However, the ministerial service committee rejected it as it create a huge financial impact on citizens and expats. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

A new health insurance company (Dhaman) is going to be established which will render a complete medical service, from primary healthcare to advanced treatment at hospitals and will serve more than two million expatriates residing and working in the country after establishment, the new chairman of the National Assembly’s health committee said. MP Humoud Al-Khudhair, however, did not give any specific date when the services will be ready, but the Assembly has already approved a law for the company to offer medical services to expatriates in the country. The lawmaker said as when the company begins its services, it will highly reduce overcrowding at public hospitals and clinics all over Kuwait, and will also reduce administrative and financial expenses incurred on the government and these services will also improvise the standard of medical services in the country. Presently, a majority of expatriates receives medical services at public health centers and hospitals after paying a mandatory health insurance fee of KD 50 per person annually, in addition to reduced charges for various medical services in public clinics and hospitals. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Police received order to arrest around 2,900 expatriates of various nationalities after 90 people who were arrested confessed they had paid the forged companies that signed contracts with various government bodies, Al-Anbaa daily reported. The deputy prosecutor for human trafficking probed owners of three companies and released them on bail, the sources added. Meanwhile, a Syrian man was jailed for fake processing the government transactions which helped the forged companies to bring in, these large number of laborers. A rapid and unexpected inspection was carried out by residency detectives in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, where many expats were arrested with residencies with companies having government contracts. When the expats were questioned as to why they are not going to their work as the inspection took place during regular working hours, they had responded saying that they paid in exchange for their visas, but were left helpless when they entered the country. Police reviewed the companies files and identified that the companies’ offices were shut with no activities. To their surprise, it was 3,000 people of various nationalities who were brought in by just three fake companies. The arrested workers said they paid between KD 1,500 and KD 3,000 per visa, and it […]

The interior ministry’s IT sector is at present, working on a mega-project that will help the millions of expats residing in Kuwait to renew their residency visas and their dependents online at the ministry’s website instead of going to immigration departments. The new service will also help expats to issue family visit visas for parents, spouses and children, said informed sources, noting that all essential documents have to be ready before uploading in the website, which saves time in the state’s electronic archive and filling the application form. “The only problem facing the project now is collecting the health insurance fees, which is currently handled by a public services company. MoI’s IT Director Major General Ali Al-Muaili yesterday met health officials on the Cabinet’s economic committee to discuss this issue. It says they both agreed to have MoI install a program on its website to collect the fees online in collaboration with K-Net by the beginning of next year so that the project can become operational by mid-2019. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Khaled Al-Roudhan, Minister of Commerce and Industry ordered all the ministry bodies to submit a schedule for replacing expats with citizens. As per the Civil Service Commissions’ plan on replacing expats with citizens, the ultimate goal is to touch 100% of the total workforce (kuwaitization) in administrative, media, PR, IT, development, follow-up and statistics jobs within five years, 95% in scientific, financial, economic and commercial jobs and 80% in craft jobs. MP Mohammad Al-Dallal called for the need to make a pause in the growing numbers of certain expatriate communities, especially the Egyptian and the Filipino communities. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) gave consent to grant 36 jobs to expats to work as secretaries for Municipal Council members and the secretariat general. The Council’s Deputy Chairman Abdullah Al-Mahri and Secretary General Yousif Al-Soqobi recently met CSC Undersecretary Bader Al-Hamad to request permission to hire secretaries and typists because of the huge amount of incomplete work. It is to be noted that, the Municipal Council secretariat is highly understaffed. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Expats Engineeering degree verifying task has been passed on to a Swedish company by making an agreement with the company by the Kuwait Engineers Soceity. Faisal Al-Atal., the head of the Kuwait Engineers society said, it is the same Swedish company which is working in the Gulf region and is responsible for finding authenticity of  engineers’ certificates in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Faisal Al-Atal explained the process as, the engineer will submit all his degrees to the company and authorizes it to proceed for inquiry. The company then contacts the candidate university to find whether he/she studied in the college, confirms the period of his/her study and the subjects the candidate studied, will be the first step. The second step will be to check the authenticity of the degree seals and the data. He said the “the Swedish company will also provide the Kuwait Engineers society with the information about the criminal record of every person who wants their certificate authenticated”, adding the fees will be collected directly by the company. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Internet users across the globe may experience widespread network failures as the key domain servers is to undergo routine maintenance over the next 48 hours. The Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a charity organization will carry out the maintenance work during this time period by changing the cryptographic key that helps protect the internet’s address book or the Domain Name System (DNS). This initiative is to counter the increasing incidents of cyber attacks, the ICANN said. “To be clear some internet users might be affected if their network operators or Internet Service Providers (ISPs) is not ready for this change, whereas this problem can be avoided by enabling the appropriate system security extensions,” it added. Internet users could face difficulties in accessing web pages or making any transactions in the next 48 hours, also might face inconvenience accessing the global network if they use an outdated ISP. Courtesy: NDTV

An Indian age 42, was taken into custody and sent to the public prosecution for practicing medicine without license and stealing drugs. The Indian and his other four partners were arrested inside a grocery store, where he carried out surgeries and abortions in return of money, in which most of them are residency violators. Investigations revealed the medicines he was used were stolen from government health centers. These thefts were carried out by another Asian, who was also arrested. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah said after reviewing the ministry’s financial contracts and tenders recently, misuse of public funds has been identified in an aircraft refueling contract, which lead to expend of public funds. The ministry  a detailed investigation of the matter, he said in a press statement, adding the case was referred to the public prosecution for necessary legal action against the suspects. At the same time, the interior ministry has deported 13,000 expats since the beginning of 2018, which includes labor law violators, involved in criminal cases, traffic violations and other cases. The sources added that some of the deportees were medically unfit and infected with hepatitis C and AIDS. “Many of them held university degrees,” the sources said, noting that 80 male and 20 female inmates are currently awaiting deportation. “The deportation is a quick now and no deportees spend more than a week at the deportation prison unless wanted over cases still pending in courts,” the sources explained. The sources added Indians forms the majority of deportees, followed by Filipinos, Ethiopians, Egyptians, Sri Lankans and Bangladeshis. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Americans apprehended on drugs trafficking, detectives siezed him with 13 kg of marijuana, 11 bottles of liquor and wine, a sensitive scale, a pistol, 42 rounds and three magazines. The suspect confessed that he brought drugs to Kuwait through the US military air cargo. Detectives was informed as the suspect possess drugs in his house, and the raid occurred. Courtesy: Kuwait Times

Cleaning firms will be fined and the workers will be deported if found beseeching Kuwait Municipality announced yesterday that it will deport any cleaning worker if found beseeching to the public.All companies working in all governorates were informed with these regulations, Municipality’s Director General Ahmad Al-Manfouhi said. And he also added there will be inspection campaigns next Sunday in cooperation with the Public Authority for Manpower, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Courtesy: KUNA