A Kuwaiti lawmaker has proposed a residency cap of a maximum of ten years, that can be renewed only once, for all expatriates working in the country, according to a report.

The conditions imply that no foreigner can stay in Kuwait for more than 20 years, said the Gulf News report.

MP Abdulla Al Tamimi said no foreigner in unskilled and semi-skilled occupations should be allowed to stay in the country when he reaches the age of 50.

Skilled workers such as doctors, advisers and university professors, however, should be allowed to stay until they are 70 years of age, he said.

No expatriate community should be allowed to exceed 15 per cent of the Kuwaiti population, currently standing at 1.2 million, Al Tamimi was quoted as saying.

The proposal is part of a draft law Al Tamimi presented to the parliament to address what he called demographic imbalances and the presence of a large marginalised labour force in the country, it said.

Kuwait is home to about 2.8 million foreigners, mainly unskilled Asian labourers in the construction sector and domestic helpers, who make up more than two-thirds of the total population.

The proposal would affect the Indian community, the largest in the country, with around 700,000 people, the Egyptian community made up of 500,000 people and Bangladeshi nationals, believed to be slightly more than 200,000, said the report.

Kuwaiti officials have been pushing for an overhaul of the residency system to limit the number of foreigners, it added.