Call to impose security bond on family & visit visa Syrians

‘E-visa makes entry easier’

KUWAIT CITY, July 28: High-ranking security officials have instructed the Residency Affairs and Residency Investigation general departments to impose security bond on nearly 4,200 Syrians who entered the country on family or visit visas and remained here in violation of the Residency Law due to the current situation in their country, reports Al-Anba daily quoting a knowledgeable source.

According to the source, these Syrians have two options – to be deported but they will not be allowed to enter the country again (they will be subjected to fingerprinting) or to legalize their status.

The source explained the status of these Syrian will be legalized only through the extension of their visit visas in line with the directive of Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Khalid, not by Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passports Affairs Major General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah. The source said there will be no transfer from visit visa to work permit or any other type of visa, indicating some cases might be exempted only through the decision of the minister.

The source added the Residency Investigation Department has imposed security bond on 110,000 expatriates — Syrians and other nationalities — who violated the Residency Law.

Meanwhile, Director General of Residency Affairs Sector Major General Talal Marafi says the launch of e-visa system, as stated by Ministry of Interior, is aimed to facilitate the visa procedures for those desiring to visit Kuwait, to ascertain their identification and to ensure they do not belong to any terrorist group.

In a press statement issued by Ministry of Interior, Marafi revealed that 100 e-visas have been issued so far but ten were refused due to security reasons.

He clarified that many who were deported from Kuwait on the basis of judicial verdicts were discovered trying to reenter Kuwait by changing their passports. Even though Kuwait has reservations about granting entry to people of certain nationalities, it still follows a flexible policy in this regard compared to other countries.

Meanwhile, Marafi revealed that Ministry of Interior presented a draft law to the National Assembly for increasing the charges of the transactions carried out in the ministry.

He indicated that the ministry is in the process of applying smart systems for the renewal of residencies, passports and driving licenses.