How Kuwait expat quota bill may affect Indian diaspora of the gulf nation

Rising coronavirus cases and plummeting oil-prices have forced Gulf monarchies to alter their policies for expatriates. As a result, Kuwait approved a draft expat quota bill to halve the country’s expatriate population to 30 per cent, leaving the fate of 800,000 Indian diaspora in limbo. 

First, what this expat quota bill states.

According to the bill, Indians should not exceed 15 per cent of the total population in Kuwait. 

Gulf News reported that 'this could result in 800,000 Indians leaving Kuwait, as the Indian community constitutes the largest expat community in Kuwait, totalling 1.45 million'. 

Of the 4.3 million population of Kuwait, expats account for 3 million.

The National Assembly's legal and legislative committee has determined that the draft expat quota bill is constitutional, Gulf News reported citing local media report.

And the Bill, according to which Indians should not exceed 15 per cent of the population, is to be transferred to the respective committee so that a comprehensive plan is created.

According to a report, Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah had recently proposed decreasing the number of expats living in the country from 70 per cent to 30 per cent of the total population.

But the anti-expat rhetoric has spiked since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic with lawmakers and government officials calling to reduce the number of foreigners in Kuwait in order to provide more and better employment opportunities to their local population.

Other than this, foreigners have accounted for...

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