Talks in parliament at the moment is to cancel the issuance of dependent visas in favor of visit visas for a maximum stay of up to 3 months in addition to increasing their fees.
(link)
This is being done as a method to curb the misuse of medical insurance in Kuwait whereby expats bring in their parents as dependents (paying 50KD for medical insurance per year) and abusing the system for 15,000KD. this is verbatim from the article above, and it is extremely deluding as it does not indicate whether the 15,000 was consumed by one person alone or not.
Given that this is to be viewed as an expats right in this country to bring their family where better medical care is available, it is now being viewed as a scam, painting the expat out as a felon milking the system for free health care.
what has been decided is that dependent visas will not be issued. does this cover wives, or just parents? visit visas will be free once a year, meaning you can bring your parents to Kuwait for 3 months without paying anything to the government, subsequent times will elicit a fee, as well as the added cost of 3 additional flights a year.
It seems the drop in oil prices has really rubbed Kuwait the wrong way, with new laws coming up left right and center to normalize the budget deficit.
2015 promises to be a tight year. Stay safe.
Visit Visas and Dependent Visas - the most recent argument
well they are focusing on immaterial amounts rather than considering material ones.first they really should take a step in temporary halt in export of oil,let the news raise the prices.
they can redirect the health insurance to private companies and hospitals if it really is a burden on government rather than imposing a ban completely.they should know imposing restrictions will damage country's reputation and discourage expats,and fall like Dubai in recession,they need to look into wasteful spending by government,like demolishing structures which are made just a year ago and that done for reconstructing a bigger one is useless.they need to recycle lot of stuff than importing new stuff. they should discourage national to spend excessively on vacations and encourage investment or saving.impose more taxes on foreign companies also opening alternative Kuwaiti companies so that the money flows within the country.
I think 2015 will be even tighter than what we might think or before they take any action because the oil prices are predicted to be falling near $20 a barrel.i wonder what will they do when this happens.
also they should try to equalize the ratios of expats.
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