Kuwait's foreign worker sponsorship system mandates that

expatriate An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

s must be sponsored by a local

employer Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any ot ...

to get a work permit. In August 2008, MP

Abdullah Al-Roumi His Excellency Abdullah al-Roumi was Deputy Prime Minister of the State of Kuwait, Minister of Justice and Supreme Attorney General. Kuwait has never appointed a Deputy Prime Minister outside the Royal Family until April 2021 when Abdullah al-Roum ...

declared that he was going to draft a law to scrap Kuwait’s "kafeel" foreign worker sponsorship system: "The government should be the only kafeel... We have scores of bachelors residing in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

with an equal number of crimes. Many are caused due to the 'trading with humans' issue which taints the reputation of Kuwait." Plans to change the system were dropped in 2011.

References

Economy of Kuwait Politics of Kuwait Law of Kuwait Foreign workers {{Kuwait-stub