FM urges diplomats to obtain e-passports before 1st of July
Citizens holding valid, old passports can return home
KUWAIT CITY, June 21, (KUNA): The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry on Thursday urged holders of diplomatic passports to hurry and obtain e-passports to avoid travel difficulties after the Interior Ministry announced old ones would be invalid as of July 1.
The ministry noted in a statement that holders of valid diplomatic and special passports will be allowed to enter Kuwait, as a direct destination. Kuwaitis holding regular invalid passports will have to seek help at the country’s embassies to have travel documents to return home.
Assistant Foreign Minister for Protocols Ambassador Dhari Al-Ajran said the foreign ministry notified the concerned world authorities, through the Kuwaiti diplomatic missions abroad, that the old Kuwaiti passports would be rendered invalid as of July 1.
The Ministry of Interior (MoI) said on Wednesday that citizens holding old version and valid passports could come back to the homeland.
There is a ministerial decision to stop using the old passports as of July 1, the Ministry’s Public Relations and Security Media Department added in a press statement.
Suspending
Based upon Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah’s decision suspending the old passports as of first of July, in collaboration with the Foreign Ministry, those who hold invalid and old travel documents have to head to the Kuwaiti embassies abroad to issue documents so as to return home, the statement noted.
The move shows the ministry’s keenness on offering facilitations to the Kuwaiti nationals living abroad, it pointed out.
However pointing out that no one can travel using the old passport as of the above-mentioned date of July 1, the statement added.
Kuwait’s Minister of Information and Minister of State for Youth Affairs Mohammad AlJabri on Wednesday praised the achievements of Kuwaiti lawyers in spreading law awareness and education.
In his meeting with the Assistant Secretary of Kuwait Lawyers Society (KLS) Abdulrahman Al-Tahoos, Al-Jabri said that the Ministry of Information is ready to cooperate with KLS in the fields of media, education and awareness, and to shed light on its activities, read a statement by the ministry.
The two parties discussed ways to cooperate and support the local media in order to strengthen the role of KLS in serving the legal profession, lawyers and the Kuwaiti society as a whole,” the statement continued.
The Kuwaiti minister also met with famed Kuwaiti poet and researcher Dr Yacquob Al-Ghunaim, showering him with praise for his immense contributions to Arabic literature.