149 Filipino workers from Kuwait, Saudi fly home amid unrest

If you’re a Filipino worker in Kuwait, or you know one, you’ve probably heard the same question going around lately: is it time to go home? For 37 Filipinos who were working here, that question has already been answered. They landed back in Manila this weekend, part of a bigger wave of workers pulled out of the Gulf as regional tensions keep rising.

It’s a small number compared to the hundreds of thousands of Filipinos who live and work across Kuwait, but it’s a sign of how the region’s security situation is now shaping everyday decisions – from travel plans to contract renewals – for workers and their families back home.

Who came back, and how

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Philippine government agency that looks after Filipino workers abroad, confirmed the arrivals in a statement on Sunday. It said the 149 workers reached Manila in stages over the weekend.

The first group, 38 workers from Riyadh, landed on Saturday evening on Qatar Airways flight QR 928. They were followed by 37 workers from Kuwait, then another 74 from Riyadh, arriving on separate flights. In total, 112 of the 149 returnees had been working in Saudi Arabia, and 37 in Kuwait.

OWWA described these as part of ongoing repatriation efforts linked to the conflicts unfolding in the Middle East, rather than a one-off evacuation. That suggests more flights could follow if the security picture doesn’t settle down.

Why now? The security backdrop

Drone and missile incidents have picked up across the Gulf in recent weeks. Riyadh’s international airport was temporarily shut after a Houthi drone strike, which OWWA’s statement linked to a toll of 14 people killed and around 300 injured. Kuwait Upto Date had earlier reported the toll at 12 dead and over 300 hurt as the picture developed, so readers should treat the exact numbers as still being confirmed by Saudi authorities – you can follow how the Riyadh airport attack toll has changed since the first strike.

That same attack forced Kuwait Airways to cancel flights to Riyadh, as we reported in our travel disruption update at the time, and prompted a Houthi warning of further strikes on Saudi airports, covered in our piece on the threat of more attacks.

Separately, a Filipino worker died on Thursday after an explosion aboard an oil producer’s tanker in the Persian Gulf. Early reports point to a possible drone strike, but officials have not yet confirmed the cause. This detail is still unverified and should be read with caution.

What this means if you’re in Kuwait

For the roughly 268,000 Filipinos estimated to be living and working in Kuwait, this isn’t a sign that Kuwait itself has become unsafe. The strikes reported so far have hit Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf, not Kuwait directly. But it does show that embassies and welfare agencies are actively arranging repatriation flights for workers who want to leave, or whose employers are sending them home as a precaution.

If you’re a Filipino worker in Kuwait thinking about your own plans, it’s worth staying in touch with the Philippine Embassy and OWWA for updates, and keeping your documents and travel details ready in case a similar repatriation option comes up. You can find more background on daily life and support available to the community in our guide to life in Kuwait for the Filipino community.

Families with relatives working in Saudi Arabia in particular may want to follow developments closely, since most of this weekend’s returnees, 112 of 149, came from Riyadh. For readers tracking the wider region, our international news coverage has more on how the situation is unfolding across the Gulf.

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