Kuwait’s Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has linked its systems to the Central Bank of Kuwait’s Wage Protection System, so it can check whether private companies are paying staff. Firms that fall behind risk restrictions on key government services, including new work permits. Arab Times reported the launch on 22 October.
The move mainly affects foreign workers in Kuwait’s private sector and the companies that employ them. In the same week, First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef told business owners that paying Kuwaiti staff on time while expatriates wait must stop.
How The New Link Works
According to the system PAM described, an employer sends its monthly salary file to its bank. The bank passes the data to PAM through the Wage Protection System, where it is matched against the workers registered on the company’s file. Once the details check out, the bank makes the transfers and the results return to PAM electronically.
PAM says this removes manual paperwork between banks and lets it see quickly which companies are not paying.
Conditions For Employers
Arab Times reported that companies must meet two tests. They must transfer monthly salaries for at least 90 per cent of their registered workforce, and they must have paid every registered worker for the most recent month.
A company that fails either test faces restrictions on PAM services. These include:
- Issuing new work permits (renewals are not affected)
- Registering government contracts
- Assessing labour needs
- Obtaining certificates for official approvals and tenders
- Registering company vehicles
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The Deadline
PAM Director General Rabab Al-Osaimi told company owners that salaries must be paid before the 7th of the following month, Kuwait Times reported. She said regular payment reduces labour disputes, strikes and protests.
Checking for money taken back
The authorities are also looking at a practice a simple transfer check would miss. According to Al Rai, as carried by The Times Kuwait on 25 October, PAM and the Central Bank are developing a mechanism to flag wages that are paid into a worker’s account and then withdrawn. That pattern can indicate workers being made to hand some or all of their pay back to the employer.
The report described the tool as still being prepared, not yet running.
The Scale of The Problem
Kuwait Times reported that about 8,450 companies had their files suspended up to June this year for not paying salaries. That is 18.3 per cent of roughly 48,400 firms employing five or more people. The paper also reported that the files of about 10,000 more companies are being examined over non-payment, with some delays running to four months.
The share of companies paying salaries properly rose to 75.6 per cent in July 2026, from 38.7 per cent a year earlier, according to figures given at the meeting.
PAM data cited by The Times Kuwait shows companies submitted 93,865 wage compliance requests between January and September 2026, against 31,757 in the same period of 2025.
The Minister’s Message To Employers
Sheikh Fahad, who also chairs PAM, told employers the disorder of the past was over and would not return. At a press conference reported by Gulf News, Arab Times and Gulf Daily News around 25 and 26 October, he criticised firms that pay Kuwaiti staff first and leave expatriates waiting.
He noted that food prices and living costs are rising while expatriate pay has stayed largely flat, and asked where employers’ compassion was. He said unpaid wages are a major reason workers protest, and that he had personally phoned employers to check salaries had been paid. He also linked late wages, human trafficking and money laundering as problems that damage Kuwait’s international standing.
Studies still under way
Kuwait Times reported that he has asked PAM and the residency affairs department to study a cap of 30 to 40 per cent on any one nationality within a workforce. He also asked them to look at letting domestic workers move from Article 20 visas to Article 18 private sector visas. Both are studies, not decisions.
What It Means For Workers
For private sector employees, salary records now sit with the regulator as well as the bank. Workers should expect pay to arrive in their bank account by the 7th of the following month. Keeping bank statements and payslips is sensible, as a dispute will turn on those records.
Anyone asked to withdraw salary and return it to an employer is in the situation the authorities say they want to detect. The recent reports did not set out a new complaints channel, so labour complaints continue to go through PAM.
For employers, the incentive is plain. Missing the 90 per cent threshold or skipping a month can freeze new work permits and government contract registrations, which can hurt a business more than a fine.
What Happens Next
Officials have not given a date for the withdrawal monitoring tool to go live. The nationality cap and the domestic worker transfer remain under study. Further announcements are likely from PAM and the Interior Ministry as the system beds in.
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FAQs
What is the Wage Protection System in Kuwait?
It is the Central Bank of Kuwait’s electronic platform, now linked to the Public Authority for Manpower. Employers’ salary files pass through banks to PAM, which matches them against registered workers and sees which companies are not paying.
When must private sector salaries be paid in Kuwait?
PAM Director General Rabab Al-Osaimi said salaries must be paid before the 7th of the following month, according to Kuwait Times.
What happens to companies that do not pay on time?
Arab Times reported that firms below the 90 per cent payment threshold, or that have not paid every registered worker for the latest month, face restrictions on PAM services. These include new work permits, government contract registration and company vehicle registration. Permit renewals are not affected.
Where should workers complain about unpaid wages?
The recent reports did not announce a new channel, so complaints continue to go through PAM. Workers should keep bank statements and payslips as evidence.
