The Ministry of Interior, represented by the Residency Affairs Sector, will issue instructions within the next few days to resume the issuance of family visas, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed security sources.

They indicated that, “The first stage will cover children, after which the process of allowing wives, mothers and fathers to join their families in the country will gradually begin, based on the criteria to be determined by the ministry.” The salary cap of sponsor should be KD 500 per/month.

The sources explained that such a step comes after the suspension of the issuance of visas for a specific period within the framework of the Ministry of Interior’s keenness to set specific controls and procedures in this regard in a way that harmonizes efforts to modify the demographics and preserve the rights of residents to reunite with their families according to specific controls.

The source stated that the salary cap for infants and for humanitarian considerations is not applied, the timing of the opening of visit and the dependent visas and others is not known, and if the salary condition will change, especially since there is a study that was submitted according to which it is raised salary cap.

Earlier, the Ministry of Interior had stopped receiving visa requests for dependent visa, many expat families faced a problem in bringing their children who were born in their home countries or due to the the loss of residency or due to the renewal of passports.

The Al- Sawaber Complex case has returned to the spotlight again about four years after the demolition of the Al-Sawaber buildings and the eviction of its residents, some of whom were given apartments in the Northwest Sulaibikhat project, and some others obtained an appraisal value estimated at the time at KD 233,000, reports Al-Qabas daily. The number of Kuwaiti families who obtained the amount was 250, but they complained about the inability to buy suitable housing with this amount. They hence demanded the reopening of the file and their inclusion in the law related to “whose house was possessed by the state.” Some residents of the Al- Sawaber Complex brought to the forefront their case, which has been ongoing for about four years, and demanded the reevaluation of the financial value they obtained at the time, insisting that the amount of KD 233,000 dinars, on the basis of which they valued their housing in the area, is not enough to buy an appropriate family housing.

They called on His Highness the Prime Minister to instruct the Minister of Finance to look into their issue and investigate the valuation mechanism that was carried out on illogical measurements. In this regard, a Kuwaiti citizen Mutlaq Al-Sanea, a former resident of the complex, said the real estate prices witnessed a crazy rise before he obtained the amount of appraisal, and he has not yet been able to buy a suitable alternative real estate for himself and his family, as the financial value of the homes exceeds the amount spent for him in the appraisal.

He revealed that the state’s grant of KD 233,000 to Kuwaiti families to vacate the Al-Sawaber Complex was based on an area of 42 square meters only, but the size of the apartment, according to the document owned by the residents, is more than 278 square meters. Al-Sanea insisted that suitable residential apartments for Kuwaiti families are not available in the required form, and the value disbursed to them is not enough to buy a house in the new areas.

He called for the inclusion of citizens among the residents of Al-Sawaber Complex in the law related to “whose house has been owned by the state”, so that they can obtain suitable housing in the new areas, adding, “Distribute them through housing welfare, or give them loans through bank credit, as this will contribute to the purchase of a suitable home”. He indicated that he and a group of residents requested a meeting in the coming days with His Highness the Prime Minister to present a request to reconsider the issue of valuation and include them in the laws related to housing care. Figures from the archives of the complex –

a. The complex comprised of 528 apartments before it was demolished

b. KD 110 million – the total value of the valuation

c. 23,000 square meters – the total area of the complex

d. 470 units were expropriated… and 22 were allocated to housing welfare

e. 34 alternative apartments for beneficiaries in northwest of Sulaibikhat area

A topic that is being talked about – dates back to ten years ago when one of the companies affiliated with the oil sector decided to honor its former five presidents, who left their mark and achievements in the history of the company, by gifting luxury watches on the occasion of the company’s golden jubilee or the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the company, reports Al-Rai daily quoting oil sources.

They narrated the story in the following manner – “For one reason or another, it was not possible to deliver these luxurious gifts to the honorees. Hence, they were kept in the company’s financial department for years and years. With the passage of time, the State Audit Bureau discovered during the past years that these precious gifts, which were luxury watches, were still in the financial department.” When the bureau asked the concerned officials about the reason why these gifts were still there, the officials said they were honorary gifts that were not distributed for reasons related to the failure to host the scheduled ceremony.

This prompted the bureau to demand that they be handed over to those who deserve them even without any celebration. The company therefore sent these gifts with one of its officials to the homes of the former presidents and handed them over to them or their family members if the concerned person had passed away. After handing over these watches, which had been with the treasurer in the financial department for about ten years, one of the recipients wanted to do maintenance work on them. He took the watch to a specialist, only to discover that the watch was fake and not original.

These watches were collected from the honorees and examined by the specialist, who confirmed that they were all fake, despite having been purchased with official invoices ten years ago. As soon as the watches were proven to be knock-offs, the company formed an investigation committee to look into five original watches, which were bought for up to KD 10,000 at that time but turned out to be fake.

There are many questions and more details, but the truth is lost, and no one can be accused because the watches were bought from the agent with official invoices by company officials, and they were then delivered to the headquarters, which in turn handed them over to the Financial Department and placed in a safe. Over these ten years, a huge number of workers and administrators changed, which will make it difficult to monitor and prosecute, as well as determine whether the original watches may have been replaced with fake ones”.

Ministry of the Interior, represented by the residence affairs sector, is going to issue instructions, within the next few days, to resume issuing of family visas, local Arabic daily Al-Rai reported.

In the first stage, family visa will be opened to children and will gradually open for wife, mother and father, according to criteria that will be determined by the ministry.

Saudi Arabia's Embassy announced Thursday that Indians are no longer required to have a police clearance certificate (PCC) to apply for a visa.

Saudi Arabia has decided to exempt all Indian nationals from submitting a Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) due to its strong relations and strategic partnership with India, according to the Saudi Embassy in Delhi.

The two countries have taken this decision as part of their efforts to strengthen their relations, according to the embassy.

A Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) was previously required of all Indians who planned to work in Saudi Arabia.

The government agencies have begun implementing the action plan in the area of managing government facilities and assets, including roads, airports, residential, industrial and service cities, and government facilities in general, reports Al-Qabas daily. This is done through the latest technological means and communications, and the development of systems through artificial intelligence. A document, seen by the daily, revealed that the implementation period will range between 5 and 8 years, and that the government’s approach aims to ensure that state facilities achieve the desired goals in terms of economic, financial and administrative aspects, in addition to managing them during disasters, through the use of modern performance measurement and monitoring systems.

The document indicated that the program will go through four different phases including reviewing the current strategies (if any); updating and developing the infrastructure project assets strategy; developing the implementation mechanism for the asset management strategic plan and obtaining the necessary approvals to approve the asset management strategy for the concerned and related parties. The sources added that the action plan includes reviewing similar experiences and projects locally in the public or private sector, and even abroad, in order to design a developed regulatory framework for smart, sustainable and resilient infrastructure asset management information systems in times of crisis.

Indian Ambassador-designate to the State of Kuwait Shri Adarsh Swaika received his credentials from the president Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday, November 17th.

Shri Adarsh Swaika is expected to took charge as Indian Ambassador to Kuwait shortly.2002 batch IFS officer Mr Swaika was working as the joint secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.Swaika, also served as director in the UN division of India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

He has also served in Indian missions in Beijing, Sofia and Moscow in his career.

The 45th Kuwait International Book Fair opened here at Mishref fair ground today, one of the country's largest cultural events. Inaugurating the fair is Abdulrahman Al-Mutairi, Minister of Information and Culture, State Minister for Youth Affairs, and Chairman of the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters. The event will be held until the 26th of this month.

There are 29 countries participating in the book fair, including 18 Arab countries and 11 foreign countries, as well as 404 publishing houses and 117 other organizations. Italy is participating as the guest of honor.

Kuwaiti youth can present their creativity and vision through local publishing houses at the book fair, and activities held on the sidelines are a wonderful opportunity to share experiences and cultures, which contribute greatly to society's development, the minister said at the event's opening.

Kuwait International Book Fair takes place in halls 5, 6, 7 and 7B and is open to visitors from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM and 4:30 PM to 10:00 PM. It is open from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Friday

A Kuwaiti Environment Lens team member, Rashid Al-Hajji, stated today that Kuwait is one of the most diverse countries for birds, with 415 species of migratory birds in their thousands, especially the loon and flamingo.

According to Al-Hajji, bird migration begins in September, when most birds migrate from the north of the globe to Africa, whereas the day in the north gets shorter and the day in the south gets longer. A local Arabic daily reports that birds migrate north for longer days and a better climate, and so forth.

As he explained, the young birds first migrate at night and rest in the morning, as the Kuwaiti people used to hunt birds in the past with traditional methods, such as snares, slings, and hardness, and this was primarily for entertainment, after which the birds were released to continue their migration.

The most famous of these birds are the pigeon, the pomegranate, the awl, the shola, the hamroush, the qaliba, and the wild pigeon, after which the large birds migrate in the morning, such as eagles, storks, pelicans, and raptors.

A number of types of birds migrate to Kuwait after the end of migration, including flamingos, loaches, seabirds, gulls, and small birds such as robins, roars, faded owls, bint al- sabbagh, black hamrushes, ducks, and egrets.

Pharaonic owls lay eggs in January and hatch chicks in February and March, he stated. During the second migration in March, the migratory birds return to the north again for mating and hatching, and some birds begin hatching in the desert of Kuwait, including Umm Salem, Al-Qawbaa, Al-Hamra, the Alexandrian and Indian plover, and many others.

According to informed sources in the Public Authority for Roads and Transportation (PART), the procurement committee in the Ministry of Public Works agreed to proceed with the procedures for submitting a project for detailed study and design work and preparing the railway tender documents (first phase) at a value of one million dinars, reports Al-Rai daily.

They explained that the Ministry of Finance had previously given the green signal to PART to start the study, preliminary design and preparation of railway tender documents (first phase) within the limits of the estimates included in PART’s draft budget for the 2022/2023 fiscal year. The Ministry of Finance stipulated, with its approval, that the awarding and contracting procedures should not take place before the issuance of a law tying the authority’s budget for the said fiscal year.

The Kuwait Meteorological Department stated that starting evening from Wednesday some areas will face light to moderate rain. The weather forecast observer at the Meteorological Department, Abdulaziz Al-Qarawi told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the country is expected to witness a multiplication of low and medium clouds interspersed with cumulus clouds at times, with sporadic light to medium intensity rains in some areas.

Al-Qarawi added that this coincides with the occurrence of a depression in the upper layers of the atmosphere, which leads to the multiplication of clouds, to gradually deepen, so that the peak of precipitation will be tomorrow, Thursday, until Friday evening.

He stated that the rain is expected to be accompanied by active winds that may exceed 50 kilometers per hour, causing dust in some areas, leading to sea waves rising to more than six feet. Saturday evening onwards there are chances of decrease in visibility especially in southern areas with light fog (KUNA)

The Ministry of Electricity and Water has opened the door for companies and individuals to obtain licenses to place electric car chargers in the premises of their homes and companies, reports Al-Anba daily quoting informed sources. They said this step is consistent with the state’s tendency to encourage the use of electric cars and reduce pollution resulting from car exhausts . The sources explained that the ministry has set conditions for granting the license, the first of which is an official letter from the company from which the electric car was purchased, proving the ownership of the person applying for car charger installation.

This letter is intended for the ministry to confirm that the person who requested to increase the power in his home for the electric charger only has an electric car so that the power booster is not used for other purposes. Each individual or company has the right to boost the power up to only 20 kilowatts, as the ministry will not give any licenses to strengthen the power higher than that. It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Electricity and Water has placed an electric charger at one of its entrances based on a personal initiative of the former minister to urge employees to acquire electric cars that reduce pressure on the environment.

Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas ( PBD)-2023 is being organized in Indore, Madhya Pradesh from 08 to 10 January 2023.

All Indian community associations in Kuwait and their members are invited to register and participate in PBD 2023.

3All Indian associations in Kuwait are requested to register maximum number of people from their association for PBD-2023.
Regards,

Dr Vinod Gaikwad
Head of Chancery
Embassy of India, Kuwait

For the management of domestic worker recruitment, inspection services and labor disputes between employers and recruitment offices, the Public Authority for Manpower has launched an e-application platform, in an effort to eliminate paper transactions.

On the sidelines of a workshop to activate the application, the acting director general of the authority, Mubarak Al-Jafour, confirmed that a breakthrough had begun. As part of its efforts to protect the rights of everyone, PAM has begun implementing the inspection of the private sector, followed by the management of labor relations as well as domestic workers.

Besides inspecting offices and ensuring their compliance with the law, the application aims to resolve disputes between the domestic worker and the employer as well as between the employer and the recruitment office.

According to him, the authority is committed to the government's vision of facilitating and enabling all businesses for the largest beneficiary segment, particularly domestic workers.

Nasser Al-Moussawi, Director of the Domestic Labor Department at PAM, said that the new application would replace paper-based inspection and notification systems, and through it, recruitment offices and the Ministry of Interior represented by police stations will be able to communicate via official means.

Our goal is to resolve disputes between the parties to the domestic labor contract, whether they are the recruitment office, the employer, or the domestic worker.

Rabab Al-Osaimi, Director of the Department of Information Systems Center, emphasized the importance of three pillars in the domestic labor system: the system for resolving domestic labor disputes, the system for conducting administrative inspections and the smart inspection, which is geared towards inspectors.

For the first time, the Ministry of Electricity and Water is inviting businesses and individuals to apply for licenses to install electric car chargers in their vicinity.

A local Arabic daily reported that this step is consistent with the state's tendency to encourage electric cars as a means of reducing pollution from automobile exhausts. According to the ministry, the first requirement is an official letter from the company where the electric car was purchased, proving ownership of the property by the person applying for the installation of the car charger.

Sources noted that the ministry letter must confirm that the person requesting to increase the electricity supply to his home for the installation of the electric charger must prove he owns an electric car so the power cannot be used for other purposes, emphasizing that each individual or company has the right to boost the power to up to 20 kilowatts.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that over 99 percent of the total workers in Kuwait International Airport are Kuwaitis. Kuwaiti employees in the operations, maintenance, and engineering departments, including women, run all kinds of operations in the airport, deputy director general for Kuwait International Airport affairs Saleh Al-Faddaghi told KUNA on Tuesday. The directorate has modern programs related to security and safety, information technology and cyber security, he said, adding that the airport has a lot of qualified and skilled workers in the field.

Information technology services saw a significant boost in the past few years, especially during the coronavirus crisis, said Al-Faddaghi. He noted that DGCA is in the final stages of linking information with governmental bodies online. Among the online services provided by the airport is passengers complaints through scanning a barcode and entering the directorate’s website to send their complaints, he said. DGCA will also add an online section for new employment and the dates of the tests and medical checkups for the job in the coming period, the official noted.

Al-Faddaghi said they also have a program that monitors quality of services provided to passengers across the airport. Meanwhile, he said that passengers who lose their luggage in the airport can submit a request and follow up on the retrieving process through special electronic devices in the airport or through DGCA’s website. He added that there are 24-hours surveillance cameras across the airport that can help in finding passengers’ belongings should they get stolen. As for luggage lost during fl ights, that is bags that were handed in the checkin, the issue requires bigger procedures to retrieve the bags as they could be lost in Kuwait airport or other airports, said Al-Faddaghi. By Abdulaziz Al-Mejrin (KUNA)

Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Kuwait Prince Sultan bin Saad confirmed that online visa application is no longer limited to Umrah, as it is now possible to apply for tourist visa through the website and it is issued within 10 minutes maximum, without the need to visit the embassy, reports Al-Seyassah daily.

He said tourists can go to the Kingdom and move anywhere without restrictions or conditions, and perform Umrah rituals with ease.

There have been constant meetings with ministry officials to speed up the follow-up of water gathering in different regions, as the Ministry of Works is expecting heavy to moderate rains by the end of this week.

According to sources from a local Arabic daily, the Public Authority for Roads and Land Transport has received a site from the Kuwait Municipality outside the Jahra Governorate for draining rainwater that has collected at Shaddiyah University and Sabah Al-Nasser.

It was also pointed out that the earthen berms in Sabah Al-Ahmad need to be maintained on a permanent basis, especially since some people tamper with them during the camping season. PART is keen to use water pumps as precautionary measures in the Wafra area to prevent water from gathering.

Beginning November 15, Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry will launch a new electronic service to authenticate certificates of origin.

To save time and effort and to avoid the hassle of going to the KCCI building or its branches, the KCCI has invited its members to make use of the electronic services available through its website ekcci.org.kw.

The head of the orthopedic department at the Farwaniya Hospital, Dr. Khaled Al-Enezi said the hospital will soon start using a robotic device to replace the artificial knee joints, saying this is the first government hospital in Kuwait to offer this service, reports Al- Jarida daily. He pointed out that the orthopedic department at Farwaniya Hospital is the first department to introduce robots in joint replacement surgery in government hospitals in Kuwait.

Al-Enezi announced, in a press statement, the opening of quality clinics in the orthopedic department at Farwaniya Hospital, such as the spine unit and the upper limb unit, at the end of this year or early next year. He stressed that the new robotic device is superior to traditional surgeries in terms of accuracy, extending the life span of the artificial joint, balancing the joint, and helping the patient leave the hospital in a short time. He added that workshops were organized for the department’s workers to train them on how to deal with the new device, and to familiarize doctors with it.

Al-Enezi explained that the robotic “robot” is characterized by great accuracy in improving surgical operations, as it will enable to see the joints in three dimensions before cutting the joint, and it also helps the patient to return quickly to his normal life, stressing that the introduction of this device represents a qualitative addition to the health system in Kuwait.