No more sponsorship system in Kuwait starting February

Interesting.. A lot of money is going to be lost. Is there any word on what system will be used to replace it?

The building on the right is the Al Babtain building, and its quite close to the sea next to the Amiri hospital.

The proportions might be off due to some building being closer than others.

The image is clearly a photoshopped image.
Look at Marriott Courtyard. The building does not face the sea, rather it faces Fahaheel.

However, in this image, the Courtyard Marriott faces the sea.

Mark, don’t bother. It is fake.

YES…

oh and one more thing children, i’m a little concerned over the fact that this has to be the most epic-est post/news EVAR! and yet you guys seem more keen on the mysterious reuters photo LOL!

This is great news! I applaud the people who made this happen! I’m sure the new replacement system won’t be easy, so all the power to them.

A lot of money might get lost yes. But the hell with that, nothing should be more important than a human’s dignity and freedom.

I’m sure its not photshoped.Else the skyscrapers would have been in a single line and not one behind the other.

Its an interesting step, but I’d like to take a moment to question the practical results of scrapping the current sponsor system. Kuwaitis represent roughly 30% of their population. With that figure, we still have one of the lowest crime rates in all of the GCC and given that the quality of labor we import varies between highly educated and poverty stricken…this fact is nothing short of a miracle.

In the case of Bahrain, some of the recently “emancipated” workers went into careers which I won’t allow myself to mention here, out of respect for fellow bloggers. The fact is, the current sponsor system is riddled with flaws…but it also represents a tracking system for people who originate from poverty stricken backgrounds.

Again, we need more information on the new system…but I ask this of both the expats and the Kuwaitis: do we really want unemployed individuals to be able to roam around Kuwait freely with no system in place to monitor their activity? I’m not so sure.

The non requirement of a sponsor, a great a move as it is, will also result in non trackability (for want of a better word) of certain classes of labor. But then again, it depends on what system will be used to replace the existing one.

The system in Europe is a case in point. Although there are quite a few people there, who are basically untraceable, for the most part, the government does know where a majority of expat workers are and what they do. Of course this is mainly because of the need to file taxes among many other things but like I said, the Kuwaiti government needs to figure out a way of doing this without tying expat employees down.

The sponsorship system is highly exploited. There is no way to escape the whims and fancies of a bad sponsor be it an individual or a company. A sponsor can prevent you from changing jobs, preventing you from going to your home country even for emergencies, force you to work with a meager salary, not paying the salary on time (in some case, 3 or even 6 months late, force to work in unhealthy conditions etc. It is high time that it is changed. But it does not mean that sponsorship system is to be abandoned. The sponsorship will move from an individual/ company to a Govt. body. That’s all to it.

As an expat I think this is a step in the right direction for civil liberties in Kuwait, with the current system bordering on slavery when abused. Any system which is in place will be open for abuse and will be abused by those who wish to do so (nationals and ex pats). However, the freedom which this move will give to citizens far outweighs any risks you associate with the loss of “tracking” of the people. Many of the countries which Kuwaiti nationals are so eager to visit on a regular basis have no such controls and are better for it. I’ll be eager to see what the new system is and if it is an improvement.
Also, yes Kuwait has one of the lowest crime rates, but also consider –
1. The official crime rates are never published and if they are you don’t know how true they are. – 1984
2. How high is the suicide rates compared to other countries?
3. How many crimes don’t get reported through fear of retribution from sponsor?

Consider the definition of ‘crime rates’.

You’re probably thinking of murder, rape, robbery etc.

However, the definition of crime is, “an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law”

There are therefore hundreds of crimes committed every minute in Kuwait.

*Exceeding the speed limit
*Not wearing a seatbelt
*Driving whilst using a phone
*Drinking alcohol
*Sexual intercourse outside of marriage
*Smoking in a public area

The impact of crime on society is not about the statistics of what is reported. Rather, it is about how crime impacts the daily life of the population.

If one person has their car stolen, it is awful. However, it only impacts that person and his family directly.

If one person decides to smoke in a hospital corridor, (just an example from my day today!) it affects everyone in that area.

If Kuwait was truly a low-crime country, the majority of people would obey the laws. As it is, the majority ignore them.

It is easy to ignore laws that aren’t convenient to you personally, but abiding by laws that protect the whole of society will make life better for everyone

Denial is a powerful thing…

Q80saracen wrote: “I ask this of both the expats and the Kuwaitis: do we really want unemployed individuals to be able to roam around Kuwait freely with no system in place to monitor their activity?”

That’s a good question. Under the current sponsorship system Kuwait currently has a large number of unemployed individuals who roam the country. For example, all the maids I’ve hired… and fired. Each of them paid their Kuwaiti sponsor for their work visa, and their sponsor had no job for them. They were left to search for employment on their own, and through word of mouth they were able to find jobs.

Unless you attach a tracking device such as a RFID tag to each expat you’ll have no way of monitoring them. (And the Ministry will forgot to order them, so there will be a huge backlog.) But I reckon many of Kuwait’s sponsors currently have no idea where their sponsored expats are too.

I think Lex also brings up some valid points about the (under)reported crime rate.

And Kuwaitis commit 0 crimes?

Everybody brought up valid points which are worth consideration:

Lex says that the countries that Kuwaitis visit do not monitor the people that enter their State and have “no such controls”. That simply isn’t true. Once you enter Europe, or the United States, you are identified through a biometric scan. The purpose of your visit has to be pre-declared: tourism, business, student. Should one stray from his pre-declared purpose, one risks immidiate deportation and denial of entry. A Kuwaiti student working part-time at grocery store at the US, or even as a TA risks getting deported (it has happened). When a European or an American visits Kuwait, they experience much more visitation freedom than Kuwaitis abroad: they get their visas at the airport and do not have to declare their purpose. In addition, there is no biometric scans. When you say countires that “Kuwaiti nationals are so eager to visit on a regular basis”, please keep in mind that none of those countries offers the “visitation freedom” to Kuwaitis that we offer to them. But speaking about visitation is simply off topic…

In terms of their immigration, European states have lost track of migrant workers throughout the years and are paying a heavy price for it. The burden on their social and cultural fabric is immense, and is causing polarization between the segments of their nations. We can’t turn back the clock, but I wonder if they would have acted so callously if they new the result would be pockets of foreign countries with their own.

I know that an expat may take offense to the idea of being monitored, but it is not uncommon practice within nations. Ask anyone who has studied in The US and had to make regular visits to the Immigration Department.

Finally, asking questions such as, “How high is the suicide rates compared to other countries? How many crimes don’t get reported through fear of retribution from sponsor?”, is just counterproductive. It assumes and insinuates much more information than it provides. After all, do you know how many? Finland is an affluent nation, with wealth and stability…yet it has the highest suicide rate in the world. Are the Fins unhappy with their worker’s program?

The program which replaces sponsorship has to have a way to monitor individuals in the country. Every Kuwaiti citizen has their fingerprint on file when they are 18, and address recorded. No one is asking anything of expats they do not do themselves. At the end, its in everyone’s interest.

Funny how Kuwait is going absolutely the opposite direction of the whole world in EVERYTHING and not trying to exclude ANYTHING!

I don’t see how this ‘new’ system is going to solve anything. The UK has introduced the sponsorship system recently (beginning of this year?). Kuwaiti students now can’t sponsor themselves anymore and the University will have to act as our sponsors!

LoL @ our government ‘thinkers’. I bet most of their decisions are made based on google ‘im feeling lucky’ button search result.

lol

its true?