At the Kuwait International Airport.

Filipinos can now get new visit visas, tourist visas or work visas in Kuwait after the country lifted a year-long ban on the issuance of new entry visas and work visas to Philippine nationals. The move came after the Philippines and Kuwait this week reached an agreement to lift the ban following a year-long diplomatic row due to the murder of Filipino worker Jullebee Ranara in Kuwait last year. Ranara’s charred remains were found dumped in a desert in Kuwait. An autopsy report confirmed that she was raped, murdered and then burnt by her employer’s 17-year-old son, who escaped the death penalty but was sentenced to a total of 16 years in jail due to being a minor. In protest, the Philippines banned all first-time workers from being sent to Kuwait. The Gulf country later suspended all new work visas and visit or tourist visas for Filipinos. On Monday (June 24) Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Al Sabah, First Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Interior Minister, announced the lifting of the visa ban after meeting Bernard Olalia, Administrator of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. “The two sides agreed to establish a joint technical working committee consisting of competent authorities from the two countries to meet periodically to address employment-related issues and other concerns that may arise in the future,” according to Kuwait’s Interior Ministry in a statement. The agreement resolves the diplomatic row between the nations. In 2018, then president Rodrigo Duterte lashed out at Kuwait over reports of abuse and maltreatment of Filipinos in the Gulf state where an estimated 252,000 Philippine nationals live and work. That year, the Philippines and Kuwait signed a labour agreement to protect domestic workers after the murder of another Filipina, Joanna Demafelis, who was killed by her employers and then hidden in a freezer. This prompted the Philippines to review the agreement, with the Kuwaiti government then accusing Filipino embassy officials of “enticing” Filipinos to flee their employers, and breaching the labour agreement by sheltering runaway workers. ICA/Expat Media
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