As reported by Kuwaiti media, authorities in Kuwait are cracking down on possible employment-based immigration schemes involving up to 3,000 sham companies that were set up and used as vehicles to obtain work permits for foreign companies.  This has led to 5,000 files of various companies being held and audited by Kuwaiti authorities.  It appears as though the focus of the investigation is on domestic workers following pressure on authorities to reduce this segment of foreign workers.  Authorities are also reviewing misuse of Kuwaiti immigration programs whereby foreign companies incorrectly use third-party entities to secure work permits rather than setting up local corporate entities.  Some foreign companies are willing to cut corners or are poorly guided by local representatives to secure work permits for their foreign workers quickly in an effort to get to a strategically important market as soon as possible.  Because Kuwait’s corporate, immigration and employment laws are challenging and require significant preparation and logistics planning, some foreign employers make rash decisions or don’t perform appropriate risk analysis and use unrelated corporate entities to secure work permits, thereby avoiding incorporating a local entity.  These so called “easy fixes” are often suggested by local “immigration providers” and, as is evidenced with this investigation, can create significant compliance concerns.  This is made worse as most foreign employers in this region do not have significant local resources and are, therefore, trying to manage the problem from the United States.  Bottom line: vet your service providers and conduct a thorough risk analysis on their processes and activities; in the global mobility field many entities are using sub-contractor networks to complete work which can create substantial hidden risk for employers.

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Photo of Ian Macdonald Ian Macdonald

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital domestically and internationally, including secondment agreements, benefits transferability, local host country employment concerns and immigration.

Ian and his team work closely with companies to manage and modify, where needed, corporate immigration programs to maximize efficiency, service and regulatory compliance levels. He is experienced with the full range of business immigration sponsorship categories (visas and permanent residence), anti-discrimination rules to reduce or eliminate risk of employment litigation, employer sanction cases, and I-9 and E-Verify compliance. Ian assists clients with establishing risk-based performance standards (RBPS) and Department of Homeland Security protocol, providing risk assessment assistance to corporations subject to Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) and assisting clients with ITAR/Export Control compliance within the immigration context.

Ian has developed strategic relationships abroad that he utilizes when working with clients to ensure compliance with foreign registration requirements. He is experienced with analyzing complex global mobility opportunities on country-specific matters to facilitate the transfer of personnel. Ian is also experienced in counseling employers on immigration strategy as well as immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions, reduction in workforces, and furloughs.

Prior to joining the firm, Ian worked for the United Nations, various non-governmental think tanks and corporate law firms in London, Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta.