COVID‐19 and threats to irregular migrants in Kuwait and the Gulf
| Published date | 01 April 2023 |
| Author | Nasra M. Shah,Lubna Alkazi |
| Date | 01 April 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12992 |
138
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International Migration. 2023;61:138–153.
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
INTRODUCTION
When trying to manage international migratio n, an underly ing goal of policy planners and government s is to ensure
that such migration o ccurs in an “orderly, safe, regular, and res ponsible” manner. The Sustaina ble Development
Goals for 2015– 2030 spec ified the above as a specific t arget, number 10.7 (UN, 2015). The Global Compact for
Migration adopted by several countries in 2018 re- affirmed the above commitm ent (UN, 2018). Despite suc h
policies and good intent ions, irregular migration con tinues to persist all over the world and was incre asing prior to
the COVID- 19 Pandemic, m ost likely due to the restrictive polic ies of receiving count ries and continued d emand
Received: 5 Oc tober 2021
|
Revised: 4 Januar y 2022
|
Accepted: 10 Februa ry 2022
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12992
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
COVID- 19 and threats to irregular migrants in
Kuwait and the Gulf
Nasra M. Shah1 | Lubna Alkazi2
© 2022 The Auth ors. Internation al Migration © 2022 Int ernational Orga nization for Migra tion.
1Lahore Sch ool of Economics, L ahore,
Pakistan
2Departm ent of Sociology, Facult y of Social
Sciences, Ku wait University, Kuwa it City,
Kuwait
Correspondence
Nasra M. Shah , Lahore School of Econo mics,
104- C- 2 Gulberg I II, Lahore, Paki stan.
Email: nasrashah465@gmail.com
Abstract
Prior to the COVID - 19 Pand emic, the Gulf region w as
home to ~29 million fore ign resident s, an estimated 20–
40% of whom were residing t here in an ir regular sta tus.
Most of t hem had skilfully d evised strategies to survive in
this irregula r situation, with f riends and relatives acting as
essential suppor t networks. The COVID- 19 Pandemi c sud-
denly dis rupted this wel l- established social order. T his ar-
ticle outlines the lived ex periences of 26 irregular migrants
residing in Ku wait when the Pandemic occurred. Twelve
of our i nterviewees were p lanning to leave in response to
the a mnesty decla red on 1 April, while 14 we re planning
to stay or were unce rtain. Network suppor t continued
to provide an essential element in enabling their survival.
Intermediaries such as kafeels (sponsors) were often una-
vailable or unwilling to provide assistance. The health and
welfare of irregular migrants re quire special policy atte n-
tion since t hey now face an enha nced risk of being a ppre-
hended and depor ted.
|
139
COVID-19 AND IRREGUL AR MIGRANTS I N KUWAIT
for out- migration in sending cou ntries. It has been estimated that irregular migrants const itute ~15%– 20% of all
international migrants or ~30– 40 million individu als worldwide (OHCHR, 2014; UN ILO, 2015; ). It is expec ted that
irregular migr ation will increase fur ther in the post- Pandemic per iod (Chamie, 2020).
The Gulf region that constitutes a major r ecipient of migrants in t he world is no exception and is estimated to
contain ~15% irregular migrants among all migrants residing there in the early 200 0s (Kapiszewski, 2001; Sha h,
2009), and perhaps 20%– 40 % in th e next decade or so (Fargu es et al ., 2017; Kapiszewski, 2001; Shah, 2009).
In 2020, t he six Gulf cou ntries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Q atar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) ha d
a total population of 58 millio n of whom 30.1 million (or 51.9%) were non- natio nals, that is, migrants (Table 1).
The presenc e of foreign nationals i n the population was ~90% in case of Qatar and th e UAE, ~70% in the case of
Kuwait, and 38% in the case of Sa udi Arabia. Assu ming that 20– 40% of th e migrants were resi ding in the Gulf in
an irregular capacity, ~6.0– 12.0 million pers ons were in this stat us. However, the true magn itude of th is group
remains unknown.
Gulf countries that are home to irreg ular migrants do not provide any systematic dat a on their number. Table 2
provides a summary of some estim ates identified according to the type of irregular ity the migrant faced in specific
countries. It is obvious that the number s fall within a strikingly wide range spanning from <100,0 00 to 2– 3 million.
As of June 2020, in Kuwait, th ere were 165,000 irregular migrants in th e Ministry of Interior records (Minister of
Interior speech on K TV1, June 4, 2020). A relatively fai r conclusion enabled by the above is that the ph enomenon
of irregular resi dence in the Gulf is very wi despread.
While research o n irregular migration has be en gathering in Western count ries, it remains especiall y scanty in
the Gulf re gion. Questions re lating to the facto rs and situations th at create and perpet uate the phenomeno n of
irregular migration remain under- researched and unexplored. Similarly, little is known about the lived experiences
and copin g strategies that irregula r migrants devise to co ntinue their existence and survival in these co untries.
Some preliminar y investigations on the topic include Kapizewski (2001) an d Shah (2009). A major contribution was
mad e to thi s rese arch by Fargu es and S hah (2017 ) in an edited volume. Various authors in that volume showed that
irregular migra nts of many different types, and from sever al different countries, are prese nt in each of the six Gulf
Cooperatio n Council (GCC) countries.
Previous research from the region s hows that in the diverse settings of Gulf countries, a common feature
shared by irregu lar migrants was a remark able level of resilience that en abled them to survive sk ilfully in the host
cou ntry throu gh mul tipl e stra tegie s. Tha t is, th ey wer e willi ng to su ffer high le vels of perso nal in secu rity and a pre -
carious exist ence in the face of many adversitie s. Some of their strategies wer e to learn Arabic and converse in it ,
expand their networ k of friends and acqu aintances, and gain information abou t better employment opportuni ties.
Reliance on networ k connections was found to be the ly nchpin that held the irregul ar migrants’ survival tog ether.
TABL E 1 Total population and p ercentage of nationals and no n- nationals i n GCC countries (national st atistics,
2020) (with numbe rs)
Country (date)
Tota l
population Nationals
Foreign
nationals % Nationals
% Non-
Nationals
Bahrain (17 March 202 0) 1,501,635 712,362 7 89, 273 4 7.4 52 .6
Kuwait (December 2020) 4,670,713 1,459, 970 3 ,2 10,74 3 31.3 68 .7
Oman (12 Decembe r 2020) 4,471, 148 2,731,45 6 1,739,692 61.1 38.9
Qatar (17 March 2020) 2,8 46,118 32 8,985 2 ,51 7,1 33 11. 6 88.4
Saudi Arabi a (mid−2020) 35,0 13,414 2 1,430 ,128 13,583,286 61.2 38.8
UAE (mid−2019) 9,503,738 1,244,63 8 8,259,10 0 13.1 86.9
Tota l 58 ,0 06, 766 27, 90 7,5 3 9 30 ,0 99, 227 4 8.1 51. 9
Source: National Ins titutes of Statisti cs and author's cal culations based on dat a published by Nationa l Statistical
Institutes; e xtracted from G LMM website, Table 1.2.2; w ww.gulfm igrat ion.grc.net
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