KUWAIT CITY, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Social Affairs and Labor Minister Mohammed al-Ifasi has said Kuwait plans to abolish the sponsorship system for foreign workers in the emirate, local daily Al-Anbaa reported Thursday.

    "The current situation is almost chaotic with regards to the exploitation of foreign workers and depriving them of many rights stipulated by the law," al-Ifasi said.

    He said the ministry plans to scrap the sponsorship system "for certain categories of expatriates" and grant them the rights to sponsor themselves, the minister said.

    The sponsorship system, commonly adopted in the Gulf Arab countries, stipulates that foreign workers must be sponsored by a local employer to get a work permit and can not switch jobs without the approval of their employers.

    The practice has long been criticized for nourishing widespread abuses and infringing the rights of the workers.

    Bahrain announced in May that it would scrap its sponsorship system for foreign workers, the first in a region whose oil-driven economy has attracted millions of Asian workers in recent years.