Cairo: According to the reports, more than 371,000 immigrants have left work in Kuwait over the past three years as the country 

is going ahead with a policy replacing foreigners with its citizens.

Now, as per the data of 2018, nearly 2.89 million people are currently doing jobs in Kuwait, but the figure fell to 2.52 million last year in 2021. These all figures came from the reports and official statistics. 

According to the Central; Statistical Bureau, the figure included a drop of 115,000 domestic workers due to COVID-19 and related restrictions on overseas recruitment. 

Moreover, statistics indicated that the number of foreigners who were working with the government residency permits dropped by 11,000 people during the three years because of the government employment policy known as Kuwatisation replacing foreigners with Kuwaitis that initiated in 2017. 

The overall number of private sector immigrants dropped to 1.2 million last year against 1.5 million in 2018.

It is still unclear if all the foreigners moved out of work have already left Kuwait.

However, the number of illegal migrants in Kuwait jumped by around 51,000 people during the cited period, reaching 151,000 in 2021 against 100,000 in 2018, indicated by reports. 

Foreigners, including dependents, account for nearly 3.5 million of Kuwait’s total population of about 4.6 million.

In some months, many voices have been raised in the Gulf country demanding that foreigners’ employment be limited amid economic fallout from COVID-19. 

Kuwait has recently stepped up raids on illicit foreign residents after giving them repeated grace periods repeatedly to modify their status. 

The population of migrants was increased by 17 percent between 1995 and 2019. Kuwait’s current (2020) net migration rate is 7.125 per 1,000 inhabitants, and a 15.56% decline compared to 2019. Still, 82% of the total workforce are migrants employed through the kafala system, predominantly in domestic service.