Kuwait updates Sahel app for worker sponsorship transfers

Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior has pushed sponsorship transfers for domestic workers and drivers into the Sahel app, a change that can affect the timing and paperwork behind employee moves, household support arrangements, and payroll setup. The practical question for KPMG mobility, HR and immigration teams is what now has to be verified in each transfer case so a digital step does not become a deployment delay or a compliance problem.

Kuwait Government Online’s Article 20 domestic-work residence page says transfer of residence to another sponsor can be filed through Sahel or in person. The process still depends on a waiver and approval form signed by the previous sponsor and the new sponsor, two blue-background photos, the original passport, the original civil ID of the sponsored person for cancellation purposes, the original civil ID of both sponsors, and a health-insurance certificate. That means the app is not replacing the underlying residency-transfer framework so much as moving it online.

The ministry had already started digitizing the process in November 2023, when the transfer service covered Article 20 female domestic workers first, with Article 20 males to follow later. In that rollout, the current sponsor initiated the transfer inside Sahel and the new sponsor completed it after receiving a notification through the app. The ministry also said a new employment contract was required when the worker moved to a new sponsor, a detail that still matters for assignment files, local service providers and payroll records.

The newest service also appears tied to household status rules that matter in practice for expatriate families. Times Kuwait reported that single females and divorced or widowed females with children can transfer the sponsorship of one driver and one domestic worker. Married, divorced or widowed males can transfer one driver and up to three domestic workers, while single males can transfer one driver only. For mobility teams, those limits are not just a residency detail; they shape who can be moved, how many files need to be tracked, and how quickly a move can be cleared.

The broader scale is not trivial. A 2024 report said 55,000 domestic workers transitioned to the private sector between July 14 and September 12 under Ministerial Resolution No. 6 of 2024. That is why a change buried inside a government app deserves attention from anyone handling cross-border assignments in Kuwait City. In a market where residency status, sponsor approval and documentation still drive the move, the operational test is whether every transfer case has the right sponsor, contract and document trail before travel, payroll and start dates are set.