KUWAIT CITY, Dec 2: Director General of Residency Affairs Department at Ministry of Interior Major General Talal Marafie affirmed that the department and its affiliated units have been trying their best to ensure all citizens and expatriates carry out official procedures without stress.

In a press statement issued by Ministry of Interior, Major General Marafie explained that the General Department for Residency Affairs will start implementing Article 12 of the expatriate residency law no. 17/1959 and Article 15 of the bylaw of the residency law no. 640/1989.

The laws stipulate that “The validity of expatriate residency visa should not exceed the validity of passports”. He declared that the procedure is aimed to organize activities for the benefit of citizens and expatriates, indicating that about one month remains before the implementation of the policy in 2016, and that this duration is enough to check the validity of passports and rectify status to enable concerned expatriates to renew their residency visas.

Major General Marafie reiterated that the residence permit automatically expires when the passport expires, revealing that the department has notified Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the need to circulate the information to all foreign embassies so that the latter can process renewal of passports of their citizens, even if the expiry date is less than 12 months.