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Expats Should be Allowed Back in

While on vacation I read an article that said expats who were in countries with high rates of the coronavirus like Thailand and Italy wouldn’t be allowed back into Kuwait while Kuwaitis would be quarantined either at home or at a government chosen location depending on which country they would be arriving from.

It got me really worried since it meant if while in Tbilisi a large outbreak occurs, I might not be able to get back into Kuwait.

Yesterday a friend was telling me it happened to her expat friend who was in Italy on vacation. He wasn’t allowed to get on the plane back home to Kuwait. I know everyone is freaked out about the coronavirus but I really think this is unfair since a lot of people like me count Kuwait as our home. If it was me in Italy and I wasn’t able to hop on a plane back here I wouldn’t know what I would do or where I would go.

55 replies on “Expats Should be Allowed Back in”

The funny thing is they are leaving Kuwaitis in from these countries but then they refuse quarantine!!!

lol, my friends kuwaiti boss already skipped the quarantine for the milan flight using ‘wasta’. like it or not does not apply to kuwaitis.

If you really care about the safety of this country, report him as by doing so he might be endangering the lives of people living in Kuwait. and no I have some Kuwaiti friends who are home quarantining by force.

There have already been multiple instances reported where returning Kuwaitis completely disregarded attempts to have them go into quarantine and they just left the airport instead. It is 100% optional if you disregard health officials trying to stop you

there are already nationalities that are completely banned in kuwait which cannot get ANY kind of visa for their children if said children were born outside kuwait even if both parents meet all other conditions including valid kuwait residence, except nationality.

i don’t intend to be callous but at least you could theoretically get back into kuwait eventually. many have had to leave their life behind and never return.

so… yeah.

The difference is thatthe people who come to Kuwait knowing that their nationality would prohibit them from sponsoring children can make the required arrangements for the children in thier home countries. They can (to the extent it’s possible) mentally prepare to live in Kuwait without their children. It’s a very difficult sacrifice to make. But atleast they can prepare for it somewhat.

Similarly, when an expat leaves Kuwait permanently, he/she can mentally prepare to for the departure. (S)he can leave with a proper goodbye.

An expat, who went to Italy for visiting friends/touring for few days would be jolted with such a ban. Imagine all of one’s belongings being left behind in Kuwait and not knowing when you will be able to return.

that’s not true.. My friend (was at Milan) and another (Was at Rome) returned to Kuwait via transit from Geneva. All they had to do was sign a contract that they will self quarantine for 2 weeks regardless of the result and that they would go to the hospital (Jaber hospital entrance 5) if they begin to feel any of the symptoms…

We have friends who are Italian and the were meant to go to Italy for the break. After flying to Dubai and hearing about the situation in Italy, they did not take their continuing flight from Dubai to Italy. When they tried to fly back to Kuwait they were refused as they are Italian. They are currently stuck in Dubai and not allowed to travel back to Kuwait, even though it is their home and place of work. They have had to rent an apartment in Dubai and have no idea when they will be allowed to come home. People should be allowed to return to the country of residence, regardless of their nationality.

i think it’s a good time to realize that all residences and nationalities are conditional, everywhere in the world.

some terrorists are denied entry into the country of their nationality because they are deemed a risk. i don’t see why it’s a particular surprise that people suspected of carrying a contagious virus will be permitted to go wherever they are legally allowed to, when they too are considered to be a risk.

it’s just the world that we live in, and kuwait is relatively a very generous country.

Did you actually read the above comment? They only traveled to Dubai, they did not come into contact with anyone with the virus. They just want to come home. This is their home.

Just because we are Italian, Brittish, American, Indian, Sri Lankan, Filipino or any other nationality does not mean we have a home somewhere else in the world. This is my home and where all of my belongings are, my job, my kids. Kuwait is my home! it is not my nationality, but it is my home. If I leave and need to come home, this is where I would come to. Just the same as if you were Kuwaiti and you resided in Australia. If you traveled and went home you would expect to be let into Australia as that is your country of residence.
Therefore, if I have traveled and am returning home to my home country, the one where I reside, I will follow the rules of quarantine of that country to ensure that if I am sick, I do not spread it to others, but at least I can do it in my home without worrying that I am in a foreign country.
Comparing terrorism to a contagious disease is fear mongering. The two are totally different and can not even be compared. Someone chooses to be a terrorist, they do not choose to get sick or be blocked from their home!

your home is whatever you believe your home is and no country is obligated to honor that. the US can and does deport people who were born there and have lived their entire lives if they have not applied for permanent residence. Britain denies its citizens from returning if the government doesn’t want them.

these are the facts, and any government in the world can do whatever they want. they do not have to make sense, or care about your beliefs or your emotions, or your home. it has always been this way, people just never realized it until now.

now when england starts allowing all its citizens to return, or when they stop handing over their citizens to the US for crimes committed inside the UK, we can have a discussion about why kuwait’s rules aren’t perfect.

PS. i’m not kuwaiti, and my only home is kuwait. i’m just stating the facts as they are.

Firstly a point you mentioned which I’d like to highlight and that is “if they have not applied for permanent residence”

Secondly, the rest of your examples after that deals with terrorism and crimes which I don’t understand why you’d be using as examples in this discussion.

If you’re born in the US, you’re a citizen by the 14th amendment of the constitution and cannot be deported. You may be thinking of DREAMERS, who aren’t born in the US, but brought into the US as infants and raised.

While I do understand the concern, Kuwait is treating this as a national crisis, and rightly so.
All countries have also only brought in their nationals from high risk countries.

Kuwait is even the most lenient country too, we brought many saudis, Iranians, and bidoon from Iran. And some have the virus and are getting free treatment. Also as nak mentioned above, some expats are entering through other countries. In other places they would see your travel history in the past two weeks and still ban you, Kuwait doesn’t.

If shit hits the fan (and obviously I hope and pray it doesn’t), but if shit really hits the fan, this is one the worst places in the world to be as an expat. Imagine what will happen if there is a shortage of food or medicine or hospital beds? Who do you think get’s priority?

Also from a public health perspective Kuwait has a massive problem. The lack of a minimum wage and lack of free healthcare is a perfect storm in these conditions. How many of the street cleaners, factory workers, restaurant workers, delivery workers etc.. will pay to go to a clinic when they develop a fever or cough? You can extrapolate what will happen.

Being stuck in Italy might be a blessing (no clue about Georgia though, I’d say probably similar to Kuwait).

Mark, on the 2nd of February, America banned all foreign nationals who were in China “within the past 2 weeks” My best friend (who is Kuwaiti) was one of those who weren’t allowed to go back. Now his 4 years of hard work at ucla is worthless, He can’t continue my degree. The same policy kuwait implemented is implemented by several other countries. It’s great to see those policies are #halal when your countries do it but kuwait is definitely a piece of shit for wanting to help it’s people the way your countries did.

Actually the American policy would support my request since non-US citizens who are permanent residents were still allowed back in:

“US citizens and permanent residents who have recently traveled to China’s Hubei province will be quarantined, and those who have traveled to other provinces will be screened, monitored, and instructed to “self-quarantine.”

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-us-foreigners-travel-ban-china-2020-1
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/business/china-travel-coronavirus.html

So America is a good example for us to follow.

Permanent residence isn’t easy to get in the first place. And the vast majority of expats all over the world do not have permanent residency in the countries they are living in

We were doing a work placement year in with him in China and myself in Indonesia. He and me in was on the same flight I was in from Jakarta, at border control he was stopped and told to go back. I saw it with my own eyes, idk how the U.S classes these “long term residents” but clearly 4 years at university wasn’t good enough.

I didn’t doubt what you said, I just highlighted the fact that foreigners with permanent residence were allowed back into the US.

A permanent residence visa is different from a student visa. A student on a student visa is just in the US temporary so it’s not considered his home.

A lot of foreign workers in the US are on an H1 B visa. which is the type visa closest to the residency in Kuwait. It is an immigrant visa and they too will be barred entry. It takes quite a while to get permanent residency.
I think the whole world is over reacting to this. Sure it is a dangerous virus and all but the measures taken by a lot of countries is overkill. Remember swine flu?

Permanent residence in the USA is usually the green card status prior to obtaining citizenship. Student visas don’t meet that requirement. I would guess that UCLA will take his situation and the epidemic into account. To say his 4 years is worthless is overstating a bit.

Egyptian citizens are being scrutinized because Egypt is not being honest in reporting the outbreak there.

My wife, who is a Singaporean citizen, is currently in Singapore, and she is not allowed back into the country.

However, I visited the airport a couple of days ago, and the guy at the Emirates check-in counter told me that if she can visit a country that does not have the virus outbreak and stay there for a minimum of 2 weeks, she might just be allowed back into the country. But with the way things are going right now, the chance of finding a decent country that does not have the outbreak, are slim to none at best.

So many comments and so many views some too drastic and some defensive… We all call this place home and we all have our stories to tell…

Sure Kuwait is not perfect and they have some distance to go! but in my opinion the the way this issue is being handled is justified… we are outsiders… so them trying to prioritize there people above others should be totally understandable!

Now coming back to the “Kuwait is not perfect and they have some distance to go!” bit the news about barring expats was indeed rather complicating or may be even demeaning to some but I like to think of it as rather sensationalist as are so many other announcements…

I think we need to realize the expats inside these list of countries except Iran and may be Iraq [not sure if still in the list} is probably quite minimal… My point being it would be unrealistic for a company or business with an employee abroad to operate without said employee for a longer duration… & so like the gentleman above said about expats returning via 3rd countries for now…

There are a lot of things the administration of this country can be clear about but for now and I reckon we have 50-100 years more to live with this…

This country has a history of throwing something out there first with a variety of considerations being made in the background… so there are options always available…

Having said this Kuwait should let the expats back in! and have the medical facilities made available to both citizens and residents as this old and archaic selfishly stubborn attitude of abandoning expats at times like these may prove to be detrimental to the overall future aspirations of the country…

There’s a difference between an expat who started living in Kuwait 6 months ago and an “expat” whose family has been in Kuwait for over 50 years, was born here and Kuwait is the only home they know. It is absolutely absurd that someone like that has the same “rights” as someone who arrives in Kuwait on a work visa tonight. That, in my humble opinion, is a human rights violation.

I think it is obligatory for any country to protect its borders against epidemic virus, corona has become an epidemic disease its spreading so fast and for the precautions this should be done anywhere for a period of time since just screening temperature isn’t enough it is for the sake of world security

Some cases may be many suffer I know but really I believe it is for the good of all

Kuwait needs to distinguish between expats who consider Kuwait home and those who are seasonal workers/term contracts. I know some expats whose fathers were born and raised here in Kuwait! Its unfair to treat those families the way you teach Egyptian teacher who treats Kuwait as temporary opportunity.

Being a very old man (50 years) I have worked in 5 countries for various lengths of time. 3 of them gave me a passport and nationalities. I’ve been working in Kuwait for over 12 years and I have …….

12 years……. and you thought you were gonna get one ??

Get in line behind those who were born here, lived here all their lives, have had families of their own, watched those families grow old and move on and end up in the grave yard in Sulaibhikhat and still have to stand in line at a government center for a residence permit ; then you can complain 🙂

So many people speak negatively about this country and the way it is run all day every day. It didn’t just start with this case. The same people always speak negatively about Kuwait. It happened before and it will continue to happen. I say to those people, if you don’t like it, just leave. It’s easy.

It’s actually really easy to get back in. Several of my teacher co-workers went to places that were banned. They were not able to get onto a flight showing Kuwait as their final destination. So they just flew from Italy to Dubai or Malaysia to Doha, and then from there bought tickets to Kuwait. Kuwaiti immigration isn’t checking passport stamps (I assume that would take too long). So they just ask where you’re coming from and you just say Dubai or Doha and they let you in. These people are not quarantined, and because our school is apparently above the law (the owner is an Al-Ghanim) or any sense of moral uprightness, we are all back at work together. The ministry of education has rescinded the special decision regarding private schools saying they could stay open for 5 hours a day, but this wasta is putting us all at much higher risk. Potentially spreading coronavirus around to all the teachers, who will then be able to pass it on to all the students when they finally come back. Strong measures to protect everyone is useless if 1000 students are infected at one school that is more interested in its money and exercising its wasta (read: corruption) than in protecting Kuwait and those of us who actually do love to live here.

A school with just teachers isn’t a risk. Bank employees, waiters and normal offices are more high risk than an empty school with just teachers. So relax buddy it sounds like you just want to get out of work. Use the time to learn how the virus can be spread since it doesn’t seem like you really know how it works.

I’m actually a licensed medical professional with degrees in science and am sure that my understanding of virology is quite sufficient. I haven’t appreciated your seemingly dismissive and rude responses. It’s a shame because your blog is worth reading, but your demeanor in these messages has been disappointing. This has been my first time commenting, and frankly it has turned me off to your blog. Though I have appreciated the community responses. And the risk, as you know, is that a majority of teachers travelled and have not been subjected to any of the ministry’s attempts to contain the spread because of wasta. I hear you, but it also feels disrespectful. Just because there are people in greater danger does not mean that the rest of us should stop obeying the rule of law or trying to protect ourselves. It feels like you have somehow taken my comments as some kind of personal attack, or feel threatened by them enough to insult a perfect stranger.

Firstly I didn’t insult you but please for the love of god stop your teachers are more in danger than everyone else argument. Teachers weren’t the only ones to travel during the holiday, Ministry employees, bankers and half of Kuwait also traveled. Working in an empty school with no students is a lot less risky than bank employees or ministry employees who have to interact with the general public. So just like we’re all at work you can be at work as well, no biggie.

You should also stop spreading rumors about wasta being involved. No wasta will get you out of quarantine or force people into a dangerous environment.

This is just another way and reason
To reduce expats from the country.
I don’t understand two things,
If you as an expat sign a work agreement with whichever company or ministry you decide to work for, why complain about the rules and the shitty life style, it is your choice.
Second thing find another country to work in,
As an advice.

“If you as an expat sign a work agreement with whichever company or ministry you decide to work for, why complain about the rules and the shitty life style, it is your choice”

Thank you for the advice and you are absolutely right.. companies and ministries should make that clear from day one to which ever new employee they bring in ..

Maybe what they should do is only bring in unmarried single male workers install a DO NOT PROCREATE clause for female workers in their contract. Make it a fixed term 2 or 5 year contract and lay down the law, “We brought you here to work and not get comfortable and settle in”. You get married and or knocked up during your contract you are out. No benefits No Nothing , Do not pass Go , Do not collect your 200 on your way out.!!

Maybe they should do away with the family visa for expats all together?? What do you think??

Maybe if they had done that in the 70’s and 80 and after the Gulf war in the 90’s when this country was looking for expats to build and re-build this country there would not have been a expat population explosion outnumbering the locals 5 to 1 huh???

Well its never to late .. Maybe someone can suggest it to MP Safa Al Hashem. Lord knows she is biting at the bit to see the backs of expats so any suggestion to make it reality might be welcome

Considering the on-going confusion on the health certificate issue I personally just think it would be simpler to check everyone at the airport and be done with it… It will be paranoia to just close the country to the rest of the world! It is unrealistic.

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