Filipinos in Kuwait

Last updated

Filipinos in Kuwait
Total population
241,000 [1]
(31 December 2020)
Languages
Languages of the Philippines, English and Arabic
Religion
Roman Catholicism or other Christian denominations, Islam
Related ethnic groups
Filipino people, Overseas Filipinos

Filipinos in Kuwait are either migrants from or descendants of the Philippines living in Kuwait. As of 2020, there are roughly 241,000 of these Filipinos in Kuwait. Most people in the Filipino community are migrant workers, [2] and approximately 60% of Filipinos in Kuwait are employed as domestic workers. [3]

Contents

Overseas employment

In 2016, Kuwait was the sixth-largest destination of Overseas Filipino workers, with 90,000 hired or rehired in the nation in 2011, and accordingly Kuwait has been an important source of remittances back to the Philippines, with over $105 million USD being remitted in 2009. [4] [5] Nine Filipino banks have correspondent accounts with banks in Kuwait to allow for remittance transfers. [6]

There is a Filipino Worker's Resource Center (FWRC) located in Jabriya, and it provides refuge for Filipino workers in Kuwait who have "[experienced] various forms of maltreatment from their employers such as fatigue, non-payment of salaries," [7] as well as "lack of food [and] physical, verbal and sexual abuse". [8] Through assistance from the FWRC, the Philippine Embassy in Kuwait, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, and Overseas Workers' Welfare Administration, hundreds of Filipinos in Kuwait have been repatriated to the Philippines due to these issues. [8] [9]

Filipino domestic servants in Kuwait are the most expensive overseas servants that can be hired, due to a minimum wage requirement by the Filipino government as well as high costs from recruitment agencies. [10] Minimum monthly wage of a Filipino maid is KWD 110 per month (US$365), with an initial recruitment cost of KWD 850 (US$2825), with the price varying based on previous experience. [10]

Society and culture

Kuwait had the largest number of voters registered under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act eligible to vote in the 2013 Philippine general election. [3] Philippine holidays such as Independence Day, commemorating the Philippine Declaration of Independence, are celebrated in Kuwait. [11] Religious events, such as the Catholic festivities honoring Our Lady of Peñafrancia as well as the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha are celebrated by their respective Filipino Catholic and Filipino Muslim communities. [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overseas Filipinos</span> Filipino diaspora

An Overseas Filipino is a person of full or partial Filipino origin who trace their ancestry back to the Philippines but are living and working outside of the country. They get jobs in countries and they move to live in countries that they get jobs in. This term generally applies to both people of Filipino ancestry and citizens abroad. As of 2019, there were over 12 million Filipinos overseas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Overseas Filipino Worker</span>

Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million between April and September 2020. Of these, female workers comprised a larger portion, making up 59.6 percent, or 1.06 million. However, this number declined to 405.62 thousand between 2019 and 2020.

There are a large number of expatriates inKuwait, with most residing in the capital of Kuwait City. Expatriates are primarily attracted by the employment opportunities in Kuwait. Kuwaiti nationals account for 31% of Kuwait's total population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong</span> Domestic helpers in Hong Kong from other countries

Foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong are domestic workers employed by Hongkongers, typically families. Comprising five percent of Hong Kong's population, about 98.5% of them are women. In 2019, there were 400,000 foreign domestic helpers in the territory. Required by law to live in their employer's residence, they perform household tasks such as cooking, serving, cleaning, dishwashing and child care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filipinos in Saudi Arabia</span>

Filipinos in Saudi Arabia are migrants or descendants of the Philippines who live in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is currently the largest employer of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), and has the largest Filipino population in the Middle East. Filipinos make up the fourth-largest group of foreigners in Saudi Arabia, and are the second-largest source of remittances to the Philippines.

Filipinos in Switzerland consist of migrants from the Philippines to Switzerland and their descendants.

Migrant workers in Kuwait constitute a significant proportion of the population.

Filipinos in Pakistan consist of migrants from the Philippines. In 2008, there were an estimated 1,500 Filipinos in Pakistan according to the statistics of the Philippine government. Many Filipinos came to Pakistan for work and those who later married Pakistani men are now holding Pakistani citizenship. Pakistan comparatively has experience good immigration rate from Philippines despite security issues.

The labor migration policy of the Philippine government allows and encourages emigration. The Department of Foreign Affairs, which is one of the government's arms of emigration, grants Filipinos passports that allow entry to foreign countries. In 1952, the Philippine government formed the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) as the agency responsible for opening the benefits of the overseas employment program. In 1995, it enacted the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act in order to "institute the policies of overseas employment and establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant workers and their families and overseas Filipinos in distress." In 2022, the Department of Migrant Workers was formed, incorporating the POEA with its functions and mandate becoming the backbone of the new executive department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philippine Overseas Employment Administration</span> Former Philippine government agency

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration was an agency of the government of the Philippines responsible for opening the benefits of the overseas employment program of the Philippines. It is the main government agency assigned to monitor and supervise overseas recruitment and manning agencies in the Philippines. The POEA's office is located at EDSA corner Ortigas Avenue, Mandaluyong, Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Filipino sentiment</span> Hatred towards the Philippines, Filipinos or Filipino culture

Anti-Filipino sentiment refers to the general dislike or hatred towards the Philippines, Filipinos or Filipino culture. This can come in the form of direct slurs or persecution, in the form of connoted microaggressions, or depictions of the Philippines or the Filipino people as being inferior in some form psychologically, culturally or physically.

Filipinos in Oman are either migrants or descendants of the Philippines living in Oman. As of 2011, there are between 40,000 and 46,000 of these Filipinos in Oman. A large destination for Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), Oman was the only Middle Eastern nation included on the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration's list of nations safe for OFWs. The country still holds the title up to this day.

Filipinos in Bahrain are either migrants or descendants of the Philippines living in Bahrain. As of 2012, there are approximately 40,000 of these Filipinos in Bahrain.

Filipinos in Norway comprise expatriates and migrants from the Philippines to Norway and their locally-born descendants. As of 2019, there are approximately 25,000 Filipinos in Norway.

Women migrant workers from developing countries engage in paid employment in countries where they are not citizens. While women have traditionally been considered companions to their husbands in the migratory process, most adult migrant women today are employed in their own right. In 2017, of the 168 million migrant workers, over 68 million were women. The increase in proportion of women migrant workers since the early twentieth century is often referred to as the "feminization of migration".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Libya–Philippines relations</span> Bilateral relations

The Libya–Philippines relations refers to the bilateral relationship between Libya and the Republic of the Philippines. Libya has an embassy in Manila and the Philippines has an embassy in Tripoli.

Filipinos in Belgium comprise migrants from the Philippines to Belgium and their descendants living there. While the Belgian National Institute of Statistics has 3,067 Filipinos officially registered, the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) estimated that there are 12,224 Filipinos in Belgium in December 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kuwait–Philippines relations</span> Bilateral relations

Kuwait–Philippines relations refers to the bilateral ties of Kuwait and the Philippines.

In early 2018, Kuwait and the Philippines were embroiled in a diplomatic crisis over the situation of Filipino migrant workers in the gulf country.

Overseas Filipinos, including Filipino migrant workers outside the Philippines, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. As of June 1, 2021, there have been 19,765 confirmed COVID-19 cases of Filipino citizens residing outside the Philippines with 12,037 recoveries and 1,194 deaths. The official count from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on the cases of overseas Filipinos is not included in the national tally of the Philippine government. Repatriates on the other hand are included in the national tally of the Department of Health (DOH) but are listed separately from regional counts.

References

  1. ↑ Population data paci.gov.kw [ dead link ]
  2. ↑ "Kuwait grants amnesty to illegal aliens". Archived from the original on 9 February 2012.
  3. 1 2 "Kuwait Filipinos Top OAV Globally". Arab Times. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Overseas Filipino Workers At A Glance" (PDF). Senate of the Philippines. May 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  5. ↑ Zhang, Thomas (2010). "Philippine Remittances Rising Despite Declines from Kuwait and Hong Kong" (PDF). Kuwait China Investment Company. Retrieved 6 January 2013.[ permanent dead link ]
  6. ↑ "Philippine Banks With Remittance Networks Abroad" (PDF). Scalabrini Migration Center. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Seventy Distressed HSWs Repatriated To Philippines". Arab Times. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  8. 1 2 "131 Distressed Pinoys Fly Home To Philippines". Arab Times. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  9. ↑ "DFA: 31 OFWs repatriated from Kuwait, 400 more to come home soon". GMA News. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  10. 1 2 Fattahova, Nawara (7 September 2011). "Cost of hiring maids rises sharply". Kuwait Times. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  11. ↑ Santiago, Maxxy (12 June 2012). "Pinoys celebrate Independence Day in Kuwait". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  12. ↑ Acuña, Melo (10 October 2009). "Filipinos in Kuwait to Celebrate Peñafrancia". Bikol News. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  13. ↑ "Filipino Muslim community in Kuwait celebrates Eid'l Adha and the signing of the Bangsamoro Framework Agreement". Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.