(MENAFN- Arab Times) KUWAIT CITY April 28: Several MPs have expressed concern over the government's plan to increase fees for services offered to expatriates because it could eventually affect citizens. Recently the government announced its plan to increase fees for services provided to expatriates including visas residency permits and driving license. The proposed fee for new driving license is KD 500 while for visas are as follows: KD 30 for one-month commercial visit visa which is currently free KD 90 for three months tourist visa that is also free now dependent visa (children) will increase from KD 100 to KD 150 dependent visa (parents) from KD 200 to KD 400 and dependent visa (siblings) from KD 200 to KD 400.
For residency permits the fee for temporary residency will increase from KD 2 to KD 10 government residency from KD 10 to KD 20 private sector residency from KD 10 to KD 20 and self-sponsorship (Article 24) from KD 100 to KD 250. Speaking to the Arab Times MP Khalil Al-Saleh said he was surprised when he heard about the unstudied plan to increase fees for services offered to expatriates. He warned this will have serious impact on inflation.
He explained any increase in the fees for services offered to expatriates will negatively affect the services because these fees will be taken from the pockets of citizens in the long run; hence it will have an effect on inflation. He also wondered why the housing issue was excluded from inflation factors indicating the fee increase will also affect the housing sector.
On the other hand MP Abdul-Rahman Al-Jeeran said the decision to increase fees should be taken by HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah since it is related to national security. He pointed out the expatriates have different pay scales citing as an example the judges who get KD 10000 a month while the teachers and nurses who constitute a large part of the foreign workforce receive lower salaries. He then stressed the need to specify fees for services offered to expatriates based on their salaries indicating a construction worker cannot afford fees that a judge can easily pay. Moreover MP Kamil Al-Awadhi said that even though the fee increase has yet to be announced officially the lawmakers will reject the government's plan. He added he will only support reasonable increase in fees not the fee structure presented by the government.
By: Abubakar A. Ibrahim Arab Times Staff
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