KUWAIT, 29 October 2004 — Kuwait has given foreigners violating immigration laws until December to legalize their papers or leave the country, local newspapers reported yesterday.
They quoted an Interior Ministry statement as saying the amnesty period would run from Nov. 20 to Dec. 31 and would allow violators to leave without paying fines provided they are not banned from travel, wanted or involved in a security case.
After the deadline, violators would be deported and barred from re-entering the country, the statement said.
“Expatriates who want to stay in Kuwait can pay the penalty in full to correct their status without being referred for interrogation,” the Arab Times daily quoted the statement as saying.
Kuwait has launched similar campaigns in the past to crack down on illegal residents, mostly laborers from the Indian subcontinent.
