Kuwait's ban on recruiting Bangladeshis is applicable only for domestic aides, says State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, reports bdnews24.com.
Speaking to the news agency by phone on Tuesday from the Middle Eastern country, Shahriar Alam said: "There's no impact on overall work visas."
He added that the ban is applicable only to Khadem Visa 20 that allows Kuwaiti nationals to employ foreigners as domestic workers.
Alam, who is on an official visit to Kuwait, met his counterpart on Monday and is scheduled to meet the Kuwaiti labour minister later on Tuesday.
According to Alam, nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis are in Kuwait on different work visas and 80,000 people have migrated there since the country reopened the market in 2016.
Foreigners make up two thirds of Kuwait's total population of 4.5 million with Indians being the largest expatriate community.
Middle Eastern media reported on Monday that Kuwait revived a ban on recruiting Bangladeshis.
Kuwait's Interior Minister Shaikh Khalid Al Jarrah has ordered the ban and asked the interior ministry to apply it, Kuwaiti daily Al Jareeda reported, citing a security source.
The Gulf News said the decision came in the wake of irregularities and abuses by traffickers in work and residency permits for Bangladeshis, whose numbers have increased remarkably following the recent lifting of the ban.
The Gulf News said Kuwait started hiring Bangladeshi workers in the mid-1970s.
However, in 2007, Kuwait stopped recruiting Bangladeshis over employment irregularities and involvement in illegal activities, according to the Gulf News report.
In 2014, the ban was removed, but two years later, in 2016, Kuwait banned recruiting male house helps following reports on irregularities.
It then slapped a stringent condition that a Kuwaiti citizen can bring in only one male domestic worker.
