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Thursday, November 21, 2024
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Biometrics clock ticks for more than 750,000 expats

publish time

02/11/2024

publish time

02/11/2024

Biometrics clock ticks for more than 750,000 expats

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 2: The Ministry of Interior has issued a renewed call for residents to complete their biometric registration before the December 31 deadline. According to recent figures, 3,032,971 individuals have already undergone the process, while 754,852 have yet to do so. Lieutenant Colonel Thamer Dakhin Al-Mutairi from the Personnel Identification Department emphasized in a Kuwait TV interview that while the deadline for citizens passed in September, residents have until the end of the year to comply.

The biometric process can be completed at designated locations including the General Department of Criminal Evidence and Personnel Identification Departments. Residents are required to book appointments through the government application Sahel or the electronic platform “Meta”. Available locations for the process include Security Directorates in Hawalli, Farwaniya, Ahmadi, Mubarak Al-Kabeer, and Jahra, as well as Personnel Identification Departments for corporate processing in Ali Sabah Al-Salem (Umm Al-Hayman) and Jahra. Lt. Col. Al-Mutairi stressed the importance of scheduling appointments to avoid crowding, stating that walk-ins without appointments will not be accommodated.

For citizens who missed the September deadline, a “block” has been implemented on all government and banking transactions. However, they can still complete the process by visiting their local Security Directorate, where the block will be lifted immediately upon completion of the biometrics. The Ministry urged all residents to comply with the deadline to avoid any disruption to their transactions and services in Kuwait. In other news, the government application Sahel has experienced a significant uptick in usage, processing approximately 4.378 million transactions in October alone, according to service spokesman Yusuf Kadhem.