Expats to benefit from online residence renewal

‘Visit’ also

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 25: In its quest to eliminate the documentary cycle, reduce congestion and save time the government of Kuwait said more than 3 million expatriates working in the private sector will soon be able to renew their residence permits electronically from next October, reports Al-Qabas daily.

In this regard the IT Sector of the Ministry of Interior is in the midst of launching the project which will facilitate the renewal of Article 18 residence permits which will greatly help reduce congestion in the services ministries.

The service will be launched by the Ministry of Interior on its website. In addition to facilitating the renewal of residence permit of Article 18 visa holders, expatriates will also be able to renew the residence permits of wife and children without going to the residence affairs departments in their respective governorates.

This e-project from the technical point of view is the biggest and most important in the run-up to the new vision of Kuwait and automated transactions.

Security sources told the daily that with the support of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers the linking of the government institutions and the technical systems have been completed most notably the renewal of the residence permits of the expatriates, their wives, children and domestic workers, if any.

The source added another important aspect of the service which will be introduced later is the possibility of applying for a visit visa for parents, wife or children if they are not residing in the country.

These services come after the completion of the automated linking process between the Ministry of Interior and several related institutions, most notably the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) as it is the body that has the data on the residence of expatriates and their relatives, and the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) which is the storehouse of correct names of expatriates in Arabic and Latin and the Ministry of Health thus facilitating the collection of fees automatically.

The residence fees shall be automatically collected through the website of the Ministry of Interior website through the Knet Company. However, in the case of application for a new residence permit the process will have to be completed through the residence affairs departments in the country.

According to the sources, this project has been introduced following the successful application of renewal of residence permits of domestic workers, which was approved a few months ago.

A well-informed source told the daily 2020 will see the start of issuing visit visas for relatives of mother and father through the Ministry of Interior website and this will be followed by other types of residences which fall under the Articles (19) (24) and (22) to complete the cycle of automatic transaction process.

The Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers has played a major role in realizing the e-Residence Renewal Project which facilitates the following.

Payment of health insurance fees to the Ministry of Health (which is done via the Knet).

Residence sticker and mistakes in Arabic and Latin names (resolved by canceling the sticker and printing the correct name in the Civil ID).

Collection of fines owed to the Ministry of Interior (traffic, residence affairs) with the use of Knet Linking with the courts on the issue of cases and judgments and the implementation of judgments.

Renewal of residence permits for workers in the private sector, his wife and children, and his maid.

A committee has been formed to prepare a modern vision on tourist visa issuance in line with the 2035 Kuwait Vision, which will change the face of the country and place it on the map of preferred tourist destinations in the Gulf region and the Middle East, reports Annahar daily.

The committee members are from the ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs and Information as well as the Immigration General Department. The committee will work on reducing the conditions for obtaining a tourist visa while widening the range of beneficiaries.

The most significant outcome of the tourism development plan, which ends in 2020, was the increase in the number of passengers at Kuwait International Airport to more than 16 million in 2018. This is in accordance with the country’s plan to develop and expand its transportation infrastructure.