KUWAIT has reportedly stopped issuing visas to Filipino workers following the alleged “non-compliance” by the Philippine government with the provisions of the labor agreement between the two countries, reports from Kuwaiti media said.
Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Anba quoted its sources as saying that the order to suspend the issuance of visas to Filipino workers came from First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Talal Al-Khalid.
BusinessMirror has sought confirmation from the departments of Foreign Affairs and of Migrant Workers but as of the time of this writing, there was no official confirmation yet.
There was no mention of the specific violation committed allegedly by the Philippine government on the bilateral labor agreement.
However, it came three months after the Philippines unilaterally halted the deployment of first-time domestic workers to Kuwait following the death of Filipino maid Jullebee Ranara.
Ranara was reportedly raped, impregnated, burned and abandoned in the desert last January. The suspect, the 17-year-old son of her employer, was jailed .
Another newspaper, Kuwait Times, said the ban includes Filipinos who are “expatriates” and not just workers.
“The decision aims to impose the sovereignty of the state,” Kuwait Times quoted their sources as saying.
DFA data show there are 279,459 Filipinos in Kuwait as of December 2022.