KUWAIT CITY, March 20: Expatriates whose passports have valid residency stickers are not required to amend their data in their civil ID, and they can travel to and from Kuwait, reports Al-Seyassah daily quoting Director General of Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) Musaed Al-Asousi. In a press release, he explained that a valid civil ID will be deemed as evidence that the residency is valid due to which an expatriate who is not in possession of a valid civil ID and a valid passport will not be allowed to enter or exit Kuwait.

Any expatriate who loses his civil ID abroad has to contact the Embassy of Kuwait in that country in order to obtain a certificate that has details of his residency so that he can return to Kuwait. Once he reaches Kuwait, he has to visit PACI to apply for a new civil ID.

If there are mistakes in the data printed on the civil ID of an expatriate such as in the name, passport number or job title, he has to visit Ministry of Interior for rectification of the mistake, and then visit the PACI website to apply for a new civil ID. If an expatriate has valid residency sticker in his passport but he has transferred his data to a new passport, he has to visit PACI in order to obtain a new civil ID before leaving Kuwait.

To carry out residency procedures at the immigration offices, expatriates need not visit PACI; they can instead follow the instructions sent via SMS (mobile text message) or visit the website of PACI to complete the procedures for obtaining a new civil ID. Al-Asousi called upon expatriates to ascertain the data in their civil ID are accurate such as the passport number and the name in English, revealing that this is done in three stages - handing over the relevant application, receiving the receipt from Ministry of Interior and receiving SMS from PACI. He said, “In case there is an error, the expatriate can visit Ministry of Interior and get the error corrected before paying the fees for the new civil ID”. Al-Asousi went on to say, “If an expatriate wants to renew his residency, he has to visit the website of Ministry of Interior where he must register his personal data, health insurance details and telephone number.

If there is some error or if there are any obstacles in the residency renewal, the expatriate will receive the information via an SMS”. Al-Asousi affirmed that the services provided by PACI are available on the website - www.gov.kw, assuring that those services are enough for obtaining a civil ID without having to visit PACI.