Kuwaiti authorities have approved just 10 countries as legitimate sources for hiring domestic workers, according to a recent circular from the Interior Ministry reported by local media. The same directive bars such recruitment from 27 other nations.
The approved list covers the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, South Africa, Benin, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Senegal also appears among the permitted countries, though hiring there is confined strictly to male workers. Recruitment from approved nations is to be processed through their respective governorates.
Officials said the policy emerged from input and proposals submitted by multiple state agencies, among them the Public Authority for Manpower, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The prohibited group of 27 spans both Asia and Africa. Madagascar and Bhutan represent the Asian entries, while the African nations listed include Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Togo, Malawi, Chad, Djibouti, Niger, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cabo Verde, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Gambia, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Angola.
Not every restriction applies across the board. In certain cases, the ban targets only female domestic workers, leaving the door open for men to be hired from those same countries.
The Interior Ministry circulated the instructions to residency affairs departments and service centres, where they became operational after an update issued two days earlier, according to the source. The changes form part of a wider push by Kuwait to tighten supervision of the domestic labour sector through reworked administrative controls and procedures.
