The Kuwait Ministry of Justice announced on May 9 that its General Department of Experts will be fully Kuwaitized effective August 1, 2026, terminating services of all non-Kuwaiti employees in engineering, accounting and legal research expert positions. Minister Nasser Al-Sumait outlined the timeline and scope in a statement that also unveiled supporting measures to tighten oversight and improve service delivery across the unit. The restructuring aligns with national policies to expand citizen employment in public institutions.
The ministry said in a statement that the full Kuwaitization will eliminate non-national staff from the specified specialist roles as part of a broader overhaul. Central Statistical Bureau figures for the first quarter of 2025 place non-Kuwaiti government sector employment at roughly 99,751, illustrating the continued presence of expatriates in public administration despite longstanding nationalization drives. The General Department of Experts supplies technical evaluations and specialized opinions that courts rely upon for case resolutions nationwide, according to the ministry’s description of its functions. A linked overview from the ministry’s online resources ties the changes to the National Development Plan that targets greater Kuwaiti participation by 2035.
Al-Sumait’s statement further directed activation of a fingerprint attendance system from June 1 to strengthen administrative discipline and monitoring. Weekly open days will allow individuals and lawyers to submit observations, complaints and suggestions directly to department officials. These initiatives aim to foster better communication and accountability, the ministry reported in the same announcement.
Subsequent phases will emphasize digital development of the department’s services along with a revised mechanism for redistributing cases among experts. The ministry described the new allocation process as fairer and more efficient than previous arrangements. Periodic rotation of experts will also take effect to limit potential conflicts of interest and support consistent performance levels, according to the statement.
This announcement builds on the completion of an initial judiciary Kuwaitization phase by September 2024 that lowered non-Kuwaiti judicial personnel from 342 to 273. An assessment compiled in the Grokipedia entry on the Ministry of Justice places the long-term target at full replacement of foreign judges and staff with Kuwaiti nationals by 2030 to reinforce judicial independence. The current step for the experts department extends that trajectory into technical and research support functions.
A BTI 2026 country report on Kuwait notes that approximately 70 percent of citizens work in the public sector, drawn by competitive salaries, benefits and job security. The same document indicates that only 4.5 percent of Kuwaitis are employed in the private sector, where Kuwaitization policies have advanced more slowly. Public sector data from the Central Statistical Bureau for mid-2025 shows the overall labor market reaching 2.23 million workers, with Kuwaitis comprising 20.1 percent or about 448,900 individuals.
The Department of Experts functions as an independent provider of objective specialized analysis to assist courts in reaching informed decisions, a professional sector overview published on LinkedIn stated. Its remit covers engineering assessments, financial examinations and legal research across civil, commercial and criminal matters. With the August 2026 deadline, all such positions will convert to an exclusively national workforce under the ministry’s plan.
