Kuwait salary rules: employer loan deductions capped at 10%, other debts at 25%, no interest allowed

Kuwait's Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) has published a guide to workers' pay rights that caps how much of a salary can be taken for debts, ARY News reported on 31 October 2026. The guide, titled "Clarity of Rights... Stability for the Employment Relationship", restates rules from Kuwait's private-sector Labour Law.

The rules in short

• Your agreed wage cannot be cut. An employer may not reduce the salary written in the contract for as long as the contract runs (Article 28).
• Loans from your employer: 10% cap. Deductions to repay a loan or debt owed to the employer cannot exceed 10% of the wage.
• No interest. The employer may not charge interest on such a loan or debt (Article 59/A).
• All other debts: 25% cap. Seizing, assigning or deducting wages to settle any other debts is capped at 25% of the wage, however many debts there are.
• Alimony comes first. Where several debts compete, maintenance (alimony) obligations are paid first (Article 59/B).

What it means in rupees

Take a worker earning KWD 150 a month. Under the rules, an employer recovering an advance can take at most KWD 15 a month, and all other debts combined cannot take more than KWD 37.5. Use our currency converter to see what those amounts are in rupees today.

Why Pakistani workers should know this

Kuwait is home to a large Pakistani workforce, many of them on contracts where employers lend money for tickets, visa costs or housing deposits and then recover it from wages. These rules mean:

1. Ask for any loan from your employer to be written down, with the monthly deduction stated.
2. If more than 10% of your salary is being taken for an employer loan, or interest is being added, that is against the law.
3. A salary lower than your contract, without a new signed contract, is also not allowed.

Complaints go to PAM. Pakistan's embassy in Kuwait and the Community Welfare Attaché can help workers who cannot get a hearing.

Before you sign

If you are comparing a Gulf offer with a job at home, our salary breakdown calculator shows what a Pakistani salary leaves after tax, and the AED and SAR pages track Gulf currencies against the rupee.

PAM's guide does not give a new effective date; it restates rules that are already in force.