‘Embassies need to teach home-countries on MoI changes’

KUWAIT CITY, April 6: The Ministry of Interior on March 10 applied the ministerial decision to cancel the residence sticker on the passports of expatriates and replace it with the civil card, as a step to keep abreast of the latest technological development to achieve an integrated service security system that enables citizens and residents to complete all transactions via the Internet, but some of the expatriate countries allegedly lack full knowledge of the decision, reports Al-Qabas daily quoting sources..

The same sources told the daily, the decision has many advantages, including flexibility, ease and speed in the completion of the transactions, through cooperation between the concerned authorities and employees in all departments in the six provinces of Kuwait.

The sources stressed, that the main purpose of the cancellation of the residence sticker on the passport comes to keep abreast with the latest global technologies in line with the strategy of the security institution for the electronic mechanization of all the services provided to citizens and residents to save time and effort.

The sources explained some of the expatriates and after leaving the country had problems in their countries, due to the lack of knowledge of employees of the ports of those countries about the new decision, which disrupted their entry procedures.

The sources said what is required is coordination between the responsible authorities to avoid disruption of the procedures during the entry and exit of expatriates in their countries. The sources pointed out that the evaluation of the decision after less than a month to apply gives a positive indicator within the country, by providing time and effort and speed of completion of the transaction, and the elimination of bureaucracy, but remains a point of concern for expatriates at the ports of their countries upon entry and exit.

The embassies in the country have welcomed the decision, and considered it an internal matter and a kind of organization of work and an important step of the e-government that the state seeks to apply at all levels. The sources explained that the embassies operating in the country have taken the procedures followed in this regard, which is to inform the foreign ministries of their respective countries of the decision taken by the Ministry of Interior, noting that the decision was circulated to all ports of those countries to be aware of it so that work can continue without complications.

The sources said that officials of some embassies inside the country confirmed that they are doing their part by raising awareness among all their citizens about the decision, publishing brochures in their embassies and urging their citizens to follow the steps set by the responsible authorities in Kuwait the country to avoid any problems.

However, some embassies explained that the decision to apply the revocation of the residence stickers from the passports did not give enough opportunity for their countries to inform about the new decision given the size of their countries which have many ports and airports, making it difficult to generalize the decision to workers in those ports in a short time.

The embassies stressed that in order to protect their nationals and their good relations with Kuwait they will take the necessary measures once again, by communicating with the concerned parties in their countries to re-circulate the decision.