Many expatriates in Kuwait end up in one of two uncomfortable positions. Either the passport has stayed with the employer since the first day of work and comes back only after repeated requests, or it has been lost, stolen or damaged just as a trip or a residency renewal approaches. In both cases the person feels that the official proof of identity has slipped out of their hands, and that every next step, from travelling to dealing with a government office to collecting a bank transfer, depends on a document they do not hold.
Legally, the two situations are very different. When a passport is withheld, it exists but sits in the wrong hands, so the questions are about rights, wrongful interference, complaints and proof. When a passport is lost, nobody holds it, so the questions are administrative and sequential: a police report, then the embassy, then a replacement document, then an update of the residency record. The two can also overlap, for example when an employer says the passport "got lost" in the office and the worker is caught between both problems.
This article deals with both in practical terms. Can an employer or sponsor keep a worker's passport? Which authorities receive complaints, and how does a complaint relate to labour claims? What are the steps after a loss, from the police report to the embassy to residency renewal and travel? We give domestic workers their own section and close with evidence, documents and worked scenarios. It is a general guide and no substitute for reviewing your own papers. We deliberately avoid time limits, amounts and article numbers, because they vary by case and change with regulatory updates.
Quick Answer
- Keeping the passport: The starting point is that a passport is a personal document that belongs to its holder and stays with the holder. An employer may ask for a copy, or may hold the original briefly for a specific government procedure with the worker's consent, and must return it as soon as the procedure ends. Holding it as security for work, for a debt, or to prevent resignation or travel has no sound basis and amounts to interference with the holder's right.
- Complaint: For ordinary private-sector workers the matter goes to the authority responsible for labour affairs, which records a labour complaint and can be asked to order delivery. A police report can also be filed about the withholding itself. Where withholding comes with coercion or exploitation, the picture may widen to anti-trafficking rules.
- Effect on labour claims: A withholding complaint does not extinguish your wage or end-of-service rights, and it does not replace them, but it documents an irregular situation and can support your position in a wider dispute.
- Loss: Official report first, then the embassy or consulate for a replacement document under its own procedures, then the residency authority to update the passport details on your residency record, then travel or renewal.
- Domestic workers: They are governed by their own statute, the Domestic Workers Law No. 68 of 2015, withholding hits them harder because of isolation, and they have a dedicated complaint channel and an embassy that usually follows its nationals' welfare.
Legislative Framework
No single provision answers everything here. The answer is spread across several overlapping regimes. The first is the Private Sector Labour Law No. 6 of 2010, which governs the relationship between worker and employer. It sets reciprocal obligations, among them that the worker is allowed to enjoy their rights and that the relationship ends according to defined rules. Turning the employer into a custodian of the worker's personal identity documents is not among them. Complaints under that law go first to the competent labour administration, then to the labour courts for whatever is not resolved administratively.
The second is the Domestic Workers Law No. 68 of 2015, which covers household staff such as maids, drivers, cooks and gardeners, who fall outside the private-sector labour law. It regulates the rights and duties of both sides and designates a body that receives complaints and attempts settlement before the dispute reaches court.
The third is the Penal Code No. 16 of 1960, relevant where the conduct involves coercion, threats, or taking someone else's movable property without right, together with the Code of Criminal Procedure No. 17 of 1960, which governs reports, investigation and the investigating authority's power to refer or shelve a case. Which criminal description, if any, fits a passport-withholding incident is for the investigating authority to assess in light of intent and circumstances, and we do not pre-judge it here.
The fourth is the Anti-Human Trafficking Law No. 91 of 2013, the reference when document confiscation goes hand in hand with coercion, exploitation, forced labour or confinement that prevents a person from leaving the job. Withholding alone is not automatically trafficking, but it is among the indicators that the competent bodies look at when the whole context is examined.
The fifth is the framework on residency and the entry and exit of foreigners, which determines how a lost passport affects residency and travel and how its data are updated. We cite no number for it because its provisions and detailed procedures were recently revised; what matters is what the competent authority requires when you apply. To these we add the Civil Code No. 67 of 1980 on ownership and liability for harmful acts, and the Law of Evidence No. 39 of 1980 on how to prove the withholding.
Substantive Rules
1. Can an employer keep the worker's passport?
The settled starting point is that a passport is a travel identity document that belongs to the person it was issued to. It is issued by that person's own state and is neither a tool of the job nor an appendix to the employment contract. The default is therefore that its holder keeps it and cannot be compelled to hand it to anyone. Employers often justify holding passports as a convenience for residency procedures, as protection against loss, or as security for what the worker might owe. None of these excuses amounts to an established right.
In practice, three situations are distinguished. In the first, the worker voluntarily hands the passport over to complete a specific government step such as a residency renewal. It stays with the employer or its representative only for that step, with the worker's permission, and then comes back. That is acceptable provided consent is clear and return is prompt. In the second, the employer simply keeps the passport "for safekeeping" with no pending procedure and then declines to return it on request. Here possession turns from a trust into holding without right. In the third, the employer holds the passport as leverage, to stop the worker leaving the job, to secure an advance, or to cover an alleged loss. This is the clearest violation, because a passport cannot serve as a pledge or security for a debt.
In every situation the worker keeps the right to ask for the passport whenever needed, whether for travel, for the embassy or for a banking transaction. The employer's refusal after the request is the moment the matter becomes a complaint. It also makes no difference that the worker may have signed a form, common at hiring, saying the passport is kept by the company. Such statements do not create a right to keep the document after it is requested, and in practice they may even be read as evidence that the employer held the passport in the first place.
2. The link between the passport and residency
Many people confuse holding the passport with having valid residency. Residency is recorded in the competent authority's data and tied to the passport number and details. Its validity does not depend on who physically holds the booklet. A passport in the employer's drawer does not make residency stronger, and a passport in the worker's pocket does not endanger residency so long as the relationship continues and the data are in order. The practical difficulty appears when an authority needs the passport for a transaction and the worker must get it back at the right time. That is why early documentation of every request matters.
Note also that residency is linked to sponsorship or employment with a given entity, so if that relationship ends, rightly or wrongly, residency is affected. That is a separate subject from the passport issue. We covered the effect of criminal proceedings and travel bans on residency in our article on travel bans against expatriates, so we do not repeat it here.
3. Withholding as wrongful interference
Under civil law, holding a document that belongs to someone else, after it has been requested and without a basis, is a harmful act that creates liability for the damage suffered, such as a lost trip, job opportunity or transaction, provided the damage and its causal link to the act are proved. Under criminal law, the conduct may reach certain descriptions depending on intent and coercion, which the investigating authority and then the court assess. Under anti-trafficking rules, withholding may be one element of a wider picture if combined with forced labour, threats or prevention from leaving the job. Each lens needs analysis of the facts, and no legal label should be assumed before the circumstances are known.
4. When may the worker ask for the passport?
At any time, with no need to justify it. If the purpose is travel, travel itself may require earlier administrative steps depending on the worker's status, but that does not entitle the employer to keep the document; it means the worker must complete the requirements before leaving. If the purpose is the embassy or renewing the original passport, the need is even clearer, since such documents cannot be renewed without the holder presenting them. The worker should ask in writing, by a method that proves the request, such as a text message, email or chat app, and keep the reply, or the silence, dated.
5. When the employer says the passport was lost on its premises
An employer may claim that the passport got lost at the office, with a representative, or during a procedure. Two questions then dominate: who held it, and what proves the handover? If it is shown that the passport was delivered to the employer or its representative by receipt, message or witness, the employer bears responsibility for safekeeping as a custodian and should bear the cost of the police report and of obtaining a replacement. If delivery cannot be shown, the matter becomes one of proof. For this reason a worker should never hand over a passport without a receipt or written message stating the purpose and the date.
Cassation Principles
Below are general principles connected to the topic, as consistently applied by the courts, stated in summary form without case numbers or judgment dates. When a principle is relied on in a real dispute, the published judicial collections remain the reference.
- The Court of Cassation has consistently held that an employment relationship may be proved by all means, and that a worker may prove related facts by witnesses and presumptions where there is no writing. This helps a worker whose only evidence of withholding is messages or witnesses.
- It has also held that a custodian must return the thing entrusted to its owner on request, and that refusing to return it without justification creates liability. The logic can be applied to someone with whom a personal document was deposited with its owner's permission.
- It has held that the right to compensation rests on fault, damage and causation, and that assessing compensation is for the trial court as long as its reasoning is sound. A worker therefore cannot simply say they were harmed; the harm must be described and demonstrated.
- It has held that characterising an incident under the criminal law is a legal question the court reviews, and that the prosecution and the court are not bound by the label a complainant gives to the accused's act.
Methodological note: These are general formulations of lines of authority, not verbatim quotations of particular judgments. In each case the facts, documents and the judge hearing it decide the outcome. No decision should be built on these summaries alone without a lawyer reviewing the file.
Practical Steps and Documents
1. When the passport is being withheld
The priority is to document the request before complaining. Ask your employer or human resources manager for your passport in writing, stating the date and any reason given, and keep a copy. If there is no response or only delay, move on to the following steps in the order that suits your situation:
- Approach the authority responsible for labour affairs: File a labour complaint with the worker's and employer's details, asking that the employer be required to deliver the passport, together with any other dispute such as unpaid wages. Complaints are usually referred to an amicable settlement attempt under the authority's supervision, and if that fails the dispute goes to the competent court.
- Report to the police station: File a report about the withholding setting out the facts, witnesses and evidence. The investigator decides how to characterise and dispose of the incident.
- Inform your embassy or consulate: Many embassies follow their nationals' complaints and liaise with the Kuwaiti authorities. They may mediate and help issue a replacement document where needed.
- Consult a lawyer: Particularly when the complaint overlaps with a financial dispute, a termination, or a travel ban, or when the employer refuses to hand over the passport even after the authority intervenes.
2. Effect of the complaint on labour claims
A complaint about passport withholding does not end the employment relationship by itself, and does not release the worker from duties if still at work. It is generally wiser not to leave the job unilaterally on the strength of the withholding alone and without advice, because an absence can later be used against the worker. On the other hand, the complaint may support the worker's position in a dispute over termination or entitlements if it demonstrates conduct by the employer in breach of its obligations, and it can be offered as support in a damages claim. The worker's rights to wages, end-of-service indemnity and leave pay continue independently on their own grounds. We addressed end-of-relationship entitlements and experience certificates in our article on notice pay, experience certificates and end-of-relationship entitlements.
Where the company is in difficulty or closing, the issue overlaps with what we explained in our article on company insolvency or closure and workers' rights, because withholding and stalling become more likely when a company's finances are unsettled.
3. When the passport is lost
The sequence usually runs as follows, although details differ by embassy and by authority:
- Step one, the report: File a loss or theft report at the police station covering the place of loss, and obtain an official statement or record containing the passport details. That record is the foundation for everything that follows.
- Step two, the embassy or consulate: Take the record, a copy of the lost passport if available, and any other identity document to your country's mission to request a replacement passport or an emergency travel document. Each mission sets its own documents, fees and identity verification, and may require a personal appearance, photographs and a form.
- Step three, update the residency record: Once the new passport or substitute document is issued, go to the residency authority, usually through the employer or its representative, to register the new passport details on the residency file.
- Step four, renewal or travel: If residency renewal is near, complete it on the new passport. If the goal is travel, residency data, the employment relationship and any outstanding obligations must be in order as the competent authority requires at the time of departure.
4. Documents worth keeping
- A copy of the passport or at least its number, the civil ID and the residency page, kept on paper and electronically in separate places.
- Any message or email proving that you requested the passport from your employer, and the answer or silence.
- A receipt for the passport if you handed it over for a procedure, showing date and purpose.
- The police report record if the passport was lost or withheld.
- The employment contract, payslips and any correspondence showing the nature of the relationship.
- Names and contact details of anyone who witnessed the handover or the request.
Domestic Workers and Practical Scenarios
Domestic workers: a special case
A domestic worker is governed by the Domestic Workers Law No. 68 of 2015 rather than the private-sector labour law, and has a competent body that receives her complaints and attempts settlement before court. What makes her position special is that she typically lives in the employer's home, so her chances of visiting offices, going out freely or contacting her embassy are slimmer, and the withholding of her passport weighs on her far more than on a worker who lives independently. For that reason the authorities look at withholding in domestic employment with extra care, especially when combined with a ban on leaving the house, restricted contact or withheld wages. That combination can move the matter from a labour dispute toward exploitation examined under the Anti-Human Trafficking Law No. 91 of 2013.
In practice, a domestic worker who wants her passport back should first ask the householder or the recruitment office that brought her, and notify her embassy if that fails, since embassies usually have channels for such cases. If the competent authority sees a dispute, it records the complaint and hears both sides. The worker may ask someone she trusts to file on her behalf. The householder, too, may complain if he alleges that she absconded or breached her duties, so the matter runs in both directions and is not settled by one account alone.
A householder has a legitimate interest in the passport not being lost while in his possession, but if it is held at all, it should be with the worker's permission and for a defined purpose. The better arrangement is for the passport to be in her own hands with a copy in the recruitment file. We covered the householder's other obligations in our article on injury or death of a domestic worker in the sponsor's home, so we do not repeat them.
Scenario one: a worker whose passport is held after resigning
An employee properly resigns, but the finance manager refuses to return the passport until an alleged custody item is settled. The passport cannot be held as security for that item, since a financial disagreement is resolved by claim and proof, not by retaining a personal document. The steps are a written request for the passport, then a complaint to the labour authority covering both matters, the passport and the alleged custody, while the company keeps its right to prove what it claims before the authority or the court. It helps greatly if the employee documented the handover of company items with a signed record.
Scenario two: a passport lost before travel
An expatriate discovers the passport is gone before a family trip and has only a photo of it. He files a loss report at the police station covering the area where it was probably lost, then visits his embassy with the record, the photo and his civil ID, and the mission issues a document according to its procedures. He then presents it to the residency authority to update his data before travelling. It is wise not to book a non-changeable ticket before knowing how long each stage will take, because timings differ between missions and authorities and a delay in one stage pushes back the rest.
Scenario three: the employer says the passport was lost with it
A worker handed his passport to the company's representative to renew residency, and was later told it was lost on the way. If he holds a message proving the handover, the company is responsible for safekeeping and for the cost of a replacement and any proven damage. It should file the report and bear what is needed to put the worker's status right, failing which he may complain to the labour authority and claim compensation if he proves loss. If he has no proof of delivery, the matter becomes an evidential dispute for the authority or the judge, in which witnesses, records and messages strengthen his position.
Scenario four: a domestic worker who wants to go home
A domestic worker's contract has ended and she wishes to return home, but the householder hesitates to hand over her passport before he is sure the termination formalities are complete. The sensible solution is to coordinate the handover through the competent authority or the recruitment office, so that the formalities and the passport return happen on the same day or close together, which removes both sides' fears. If the householder still refuses after the formalities are completed, she or someone acting for her may complain.
Scenario five: a damaged or expiring passport
An expatriate notices that his passport is damaged or close to expiry, and the employer is the one holding it. This is not a loss but a need to renew the original passport at his country's mission, which can only be done with the holder appearing and presenting it. He should ask for the passport in writing for that defined purpose, stating that it is for the embassy, and then hand the new passport or a copy to the employer if needed to update the residency file. If the employer delays returning the old passport until it expires, damage may result, such as a stalled residency renewal or a missed trip, and it can be claimed if proved. The worker should therefore not leave the embassy visit to the last minute, and should keep proof that he asked for his passport in good time.
A final note on bargaining over the passport
Sometimes an employer offers to return the passport in exchange for the worker giving up a right, such as an end-of-service indemnity, back pay or a pending complaint. That bargain is unsound from the start, because the passport is an independent right that cannot be traded for another, and a waiver given under such pressure may later be challenged as the product of coercion or of defective consent. Even so, the safer course is for the worker not to sign a waiver or a final settlement in these circumstances without showing it to a lawyer, and to document the offer itself by message or witness, since it may be evidence that the employer misused its hold on the document.
In any of these cases other issues may be bound up with the relationship, such as family sponsorship or work visas. We addressed family-sponsor applications in our article on refusal of a dependant sponsorship request, and the residency of a wife and children after the husband's death or divorce in our article on a spouse's residency after death or divorce. If the passport was handed over in return for a promised job or visa that never materialised, there is a separate discussion in our article on paying for a fake job or work visa.
Quick Comparison
- Temporary holding with the worker's consent for a defined government procedure: acceptable while consent stands and return is immediate; it should be backed by a receipt or message.
- Holding as security for a debt or to prevent resignation or travel: no basis; the worker may complain to the labour authority and report to the police.
- Holding combined with threats or prevention from leaving the job: may move from a labour dispute to a criminal description or to anti-trafficking rules depending on the facts.
- Loss on the worker's side: the sequence is report, embassy, update of residency data, then renewal or travel.
- Loss on the employer's side after documented handover: the employer is responsible for safekeeping and for related costs and proven damage.
- Loss on the employer's side with no proof of handover: an evidential dispute, assessed on presumptions and witnesses.
- Private-sector worker: the complaint goes to the labour authority under Law No. 6 of 2010; for related working-conditions issues see our article on working during Ramadan in the private sector.
- Domestic worker: governed by Law No. 68 of 2015 with a dedicated complaint body, and the impact of withholding is heavier because of isolation.
Frequently Asked Questions
May my employer keep my passport for the whole contract period?
The starting point is that the passport is your personal document, so nobody may hold it without your permission, and the fact that some workplaces customarily collect passports does not change that. If you handed it over for a specific procedure, you may take it back as soon as the procedure ends or whenever you ask.
I signed a form at hiring saying the passport stays with the company. Does that bind me?
Such statements do not create an absolute right to keep the document after you ask for it, and their weight depends on the context in which they were signed. Keep a copy if you can and show it to a lawyer if a dispute arises.
Where do I go if my employer refuses to return my passport?
Ask in writing first, then file a complaint with the authority responsible for labour affairs. You may also report the withholding at a police station and inform your embassy. Domestic workers have a competent body for domestic employment.
Will a withholding complaint affect my residency or my job?
A complaint is a legitimate right and you must not be penalised for it, though working relations may become strained. Do not abandon your job unilaterally without advice, since absence may be held against you in a later dispute. Review your position with a lawyer before taking any step that could change it.
Can I travel without my passport if it is being withheld?
No, travel requires a passport or an approved travel document. If recovery is not possible, your embassy may help issue a replacement after the incident is documented, while departure remains subject to the usual administrative conditions.
What is the first thing to do if my passport is lost?
File a loss report at the police station and obtain an official record, then go to your embassy or consulate with the record and a copy of the passport if you have one. Those two steps are the foundation of everything after them.
Does my residency stay valid if the passport is lost?
Losing the passport does not by itself cancel residency, but the new passport details must be recorded on the residency file once a replacement is issued. The practical details depend on what the competent authority requires when you apply, and cannot be stated with certainty without knowing your case.
Does the employer pay for a replacement passport?
It depends on how the loss happened. If the passport was lost with the employer after a documented handover, the responsibility lies with the employer. If you lost it, the burden is in principle yours. Your contract or the company's regulations may also address the point, so check them.
May a householder hold a domestic worker's passport?
The same rule applies: the passport is the worker's, and it may not be held as security or to prevent her from leaving the home or the job. She may complain to the competent body and tell her embassy, and where coercion is involved the matter may extend to anti-trafficking rules.
How do I prove that my employer has my passport?
By a handover receipt, messages asking for it and the replies, colleagues' testimony, documents in which it appears, or records showing the company dealt with the document. Evidence gathered early is far more useful than attempts to assemble it after a dispute has begun.
Can I sue for compensation for the withholding?
Yes, provided you prove the harmful act, the damage and the causal link, such as a lost trip or job opportunity. The judge assesses compensation on what is proved, and a bare claim of harm is not enough.
Do I need a lawyer to file a withholding complaint?
Not for the administrative complaint itself, but a lawyer helps when the matter mixes with a financial dispute, a termination or a travel ban, or when a sequence of memoranda and documents is needed.
What if my passport is with a recruitment office or intermediary?
The same rule applies, because an intermediary has no right to hold your document without permission. Ask in writing, and if it refuses, complain to the competent authority and tell your embassy, keeping everything that proves you handed it over.
Conclusion
A passport is an identity document, not security for a job. Two things protect an expatriate most in this area: knowing that the right to your document does not lapse through custom or a paper signed at hiring, and documenting every request, handover and report by a means you can return to. Once a request is documented and a refusal recorded, a complaint to the competent authority becomes easier, and a lawsuit, if needed, becomes stronger.
In a loss, the order itself is the protection: report, embassy, data update, then travel or renewal. Anyone who skips steps or starts from the end finds themselves returning to the first. Remember also that a dispute over the passport is often a symptom of a deeper disagreement over wages, termination or residency, and should not be handled in isolation from the full picture.
If you face a similar situation, gather your documents first and then have a lawyer review your facts. The small details, such as who received the passport, when and by what means, are what change the right procedure and the expected result.
Legal Notice
This article is for general awareness only. It is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. Rules and procedures vary with the facts and documents and with regulatory amendments and instructions issued by the competent authorities at the time you apply. To have your own situation reviewed in detail, you can contact Yumnaak Law Firm or book an appointment at the office.
