Travel Bans
So it’s like 5 in the morning, I’m at the airport, just finished checking in and I’m about to go through immigration when the emigration officer tells me I have a travel ban and I can’t go through. Suddenly I turn white (whiter than my usual whiteness) and my whole trip flashes in front of me. So many things I had planned for this long weekend and now it’s gone! I nervously asked him what can I do he pointed to an office which I went to. The guy there typed in my residency number and told me I have “rousoom qadaeya” which translates to unpaid court fees (I think). He told me I might have a phone bill or something I hadn’t paid and I need to leave the immigration area to the other side and check with the Ministry of Justice office. So I do.
I get there and there is a small line which was taking forever. I had no idea if I was going to travel, if I could fix things from this office or what the hell it was all about. I was upset and I really didn’t know what I would do if I couldn’t travel. The person in front of me finished, he had like a KD5,000 payment he had just paid and it was my turn next. The guy takes my passport and plugs in my residency number and tells me I have KD50 to pay. I was like what is it for? He told me “rousoom qadaeya”. So I was like I just pay KD50 and I can travel? And he told me yes. So I did and I’m now sitting in the lounge waiting for my flight.
Now that ordeal is over seriously WTF? This had to be the most nerve wracking 30 minutes of my life. Imagine you’re looking forward to a long weekend, you’ve checked in, you’re mentally already on vacation and suddenly you can’t travel, and over what? KD50? And KD50 I have no idea what for. Shouldn’t travel bans be reserved for more serious cases? KD5,000 I can understand but for KD50??
Update: I’ve been going through all the comments and there are a lot of interesting points and examples of previous situations people have gone through similar to mine. The majority of commenters agree that a travel ban is overkill but there were a handful of comments who believed I was at fault for not checking my travel ban status before traveling. That is slightly true but why on earth should I be checking if I have a travel ban anyway?
- I pay all my bills
- I don’t have any unpaid bills
- I don’t have any speeding tickets
- I wasn’t involved in a hit and run
- I didn’t commit a crime
- My Benihana case was settled, I lost and I paid the court and Benihana
So why would I have to check if I’m banned from traveling when I haven’t done anything wrong?
Another thing I noticed is how travel bans have become the norm. Travel bans are not supposed to be the norm! A travel ban is supposed to be the last resort and shouldn’t be the first step to solving issues. How about something simple as notifying the person first that he owes money? How about a warning at least that if you don’t settle by this date you will get a travel ban? In my case I don’t owe anyone money and I had a KD50 I needed to pay and until now I have no idea what it was nor do I know how I can find out what it was.
Finally just want to clear something up regarding the Ministry of Justice stall at the airport. When I got to the stall there were 2 people a head of me. It took nearly 30 minutes for my turn and that’s with only 2 people ahead of me in line. Behind me there were at least 6-8 other people waiting. If I had arrived at the stall just 15 minutes later I would most likely have missed my flight because I would have had a lot more people in front of me. So for those who think the stall is convenient, it is to a certain extent. If the stall isn’t packed like in my case you could make it with time to spare. But if the line is long there is a big chance you will miss your flight. If you know you have a travel ban you can’t even come to the airport early to settle your issue because you NEED to have your boarding pass. Most airlines checkin counter open 3 hours ahead of time, that could be enough time but it also might not be.
emigration = immigration. Surprised you can’t spell that.
Emigration is the act of leaving and immigration is the act of entering another nation.
Although in my case I think it should be immigration.
yeah its immigration!
You’re leaving, so you pass through emigration. You go through immigration on the return trip.
That’s what I thought but emigration is when you leave your home country. You would emigrate to Canada for example.
When you’re leaving a country, it is always emigration.
That’s what I thought but it isnt. When u r leaving your HOME country to live somewhere else that’s emigration and that’s when u emigrate.
yup
Grammar is spelt with an A.
Haha
Good one
GrammerNazi cannot spell Grammar….FAIL*1000000000
lol
Well, I understand your point and if I were you, I definitely would have flipped out and could have made it even more worse lol.. glad you handled it well..
I guess travel ban remains a ban regardless of how much you got to pay.. they should have one of those VIP checkouts lol and of course improve the description as to what you are charged for not just “rousoom qadaeya” whatever that means..
Enjoy your weekend :D
When I first read the word “court”
I thought it was regarding the benihana Case !
Glad you made through,
Next refer this:
http://forum.248am.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=24848
Ironic.
Even if it’s 5kd… If the facility to clear it and get on with your trip is right there at the airport, where is the problem?
Wish you a good trip.
We’re talking about an outright travel ban. How about a warning first? A notification? How about a “hey you have a KD50 payment you need to make when you get back to kuwait or the next time you might get a travel ban, have a safe trip”.
What if you were leaving for good?:p
I think the ban is to make sure you pay it.
the problem is not with the system it’s the company that is taking the case to court over 50kd.
i agree with u zeroSystem
It is absurd that there is no notification.
What if you dispute the bill? Nothing you can do at the airport so bang goes your trip. I don’t suppose anyone will recompense you if it turns out they are wrong. I can’t believe that anyone would defend such an archaic system.
Notifications should come before traveling. It should be sent to your number or something, they should have a system for that. At the very least have a website for you to check if you have any bans (do they have one?).
There is a site to check. Both the ministry of justice and the ministry of interior web sites do.
yes they have one.. I can give you the link http://www.e.gov.kw/MOJ_en/Pages/EServices/BanTravel.aspx
enter you number in the box.. but of-course expect the arabic words will come out after you click enter. No worries if you translate it to google translate. >_’
Maybe the problem is missing his flight? Imagine that happening to you.. All I would feel is rage if I missed it.
Dude I once got a ban for 10KD your right WTF ?? ;/
I had the same thing a couple of weeks ago before going to Jordan. It was a Wataniya bill from 2008 which I assumed had been paid considering the numerous times I’ve come and gone from Kuwait since then.
Fortunately, I always check online for a travel bad a few days before I travel — just in case something has popped up I’m not aware of. So I was able to pay it the day before and avoided that pale face, empty stomach, sick feeling you experienced.
So glad you made it through OK! Enjoy your vacation.
Where do you go to check if you have any fees that would keep you from traveling?
Here ya go…
http://www.moi.gov.kw/portal/venglish/
There is a website where you can check your fines. A fine is a fine, no matter what the amount.
I know through someone that once where a guy was arrested in front of his family and took to the jail on a thursday night for just a typo. of his residency number. He was out only on a Sunday.
These things can get very serious and eventful so always good to keep a check on the fines and voilations. 50kd fine sounds like a camera flash to me.
I know you can check your speeding tickets online at the MOI website, but really, what else do they check at the airport -this info should be relayed to travellers so they can sort this out before they go! Who wants to spend thousands of dollars (When you go with your family) and not to mention being refused to travel with them because you didn’t pay a fine. This worry is outrageous.
The MOI website has a Travel Ban link but you need a password to get into it- how do you get that?
The MOJ website lets you check if you have a travel ban.
https://www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/NGeneral/Main.jsp
Just another day in this backward country, one must wonder how we bother to continue to stay. I had a case as well, no clue about it and dated back 2009, no one called me to appear in court to talk my side of the story. Nothing. To call it a system is overrated statement.
You know wut, Kuwait isn’t perfect the systems here and laws need a lot of work granted .. But to come out and call it a Backward country is outrageous, we may have many flaws as a country but that doesn’t mean we can’t function or we lack systems and processes that make us a backward country, so please for next time would you mind keeping your comments in the constructive criticism, or frustration section and don’t overstep the boundaries!!
what was the 50KD for?
No idea. Couldn’t be speeding tickets cuz the car isn’t in my name. Can’t be phone bills either.
People are complaining too much. Other countries do the same thing. Nothing backward about this at all.
Which other country sets a travel ban because u forgot to pay for a KD1 stamp or a KD10 phone bill?
Mark , I believe there is an island nation called the “Wok Wok ” and they similar laws there. In fact, Kuwaiti law is a models of the Wok Wok.
I’ve been in similar situations in the US and the UK
You got a travel ban in the states for not paying a bill?
Liar
No one can get travel banned in UK unless you have an active arrest warrant out for you, even then it is not a travel ban that is why judges have the option of taking away your passport as a condition for bail. I would imagine the same is true in the US. Totally disagree that travel bans occur in either of those countries.
Yeah, liar. The US and UK would only sent the unpaid bill to Collections.
Once i forgot to pay a 35KD police ticket and i was banned from travling but lucky for me i found out about the ban before going to the airport, Just check the egov site.
Wow why is everyone against Mark? I think hes right. Its absurd.
50+50 = 100KD :P but yea I can feel ya bro :P
Do we still have an online payment???
suprise is wonder the other guy had to pay 5000 4
I’d be thankful for the government to have such convenient way to pay and fix these issues on spot. Nothing going backward in this case like what some people are saying.
How about fixing the main issue of not placing unnecessary and absurd travel bans on such petty things as unpaid KD10 phone bills and just keep travel bans for more important things like stopping criminals, rapists, embezzlers, thieves etc.. from leaving the country?
it is worth paying even a KD for the comfort and benefits we get in Kuwait,when you live elsewhere you remember the life in kuwait.
What does one thing have to do with the other? We aren’t talking about taxes here.
fuel prices also,you can keep your tank full with the amount at which people fill only half in other non oil producing countries.
there are many things that come to my mind but i dont think it will be of consideration from your point of view because of difference in our origin.
currently where i am living,earning 100Kd per month is a big deal.which i find very les since i grew up in Kuwait.
He’s not talking about the money..hes talking about the useless bans. you’re going wayy off-topic. stop trying to be smart. what do salary and gas have to do with travel bans? Think a little before answering
you must have read my comment before commenting
Agree 100% with Mark here. I mean, what the hell, what if the guy is late to his expensive flight (say to the US, may be around 1000KD) and an ordeal like this pops up and he is forced to miss his 1000KD flight for a 10KD fine… That is what I call backwards..
The only time you are actually glad to be slapped on a travel ban is when you are exiting the country for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
hahaha
That’s what I call another lazy policy. There are so many solutions to unpaid bills, but they chose to impose the easiest, and possibly the most absurd one. It’s just like that idea of making everyone pay KD300 to register their car because there is too much traffic in the streets. Nevermind city planning or regulation of vehicles, just weed out the poor people.
check your fines before a week or two when you travel on moi websites, nobody would ever face any problems.
govt is hi tech, if just that we are lazy
That’s not a solution, the problem isn’t us and the fact that we aren’t checking for travel bans. The problem is travel bans shouldn’t be so common in the first place for us to make it a habit to check for travel bans.
Mark, you once posted about travel bans and how to check that? it was a link to another blog with all the sites to check any ban you have; I can’t seem to find that post. I think it would be a good place to share this here.
Yes you did blog once on this matter. [Below] is a copy of your earlier blog.
I think court charges are dues from your earlier case in court. Your Law Office must have setttled those.
A Problem Free Departure from Kuwait Passport Control
Blogger Mathai has put together a bunch of links which you should check before you travel just to be on the safe side. Many people get to the airport only to find out they can’t travel because they have an unpaid bill or a travel ban so this list is a good way to check if you’re problem free.
Traffic Violations
Travel Ban
Telephone Bills
Water and Power Bills
Lawsuits
Arrest Warrants
Ok the main point here is that if we don’t get notified about our fines and we really need to travel on a urgent business trip, we will be forced to pay whatever amount is asked at the airport and we won’t be able to contest it later. It really sucks. Mark you didn’t pay 50 KD for qadiya rasoom, what if you had already paid it and the dumb employee never entered in the system. You lost your 50 KD. Sorry but this country needs a more refined system than that. Its eid holidays, if u did something wrong and the investigator is not on duty you could go to jail for 5 days till the holidays end. I mean seriously. we need to be the program here.
At least they let you pay in the airport move on, some other countries would send you back to the courts to clear your bills
Like which country?
We were sent back to the courtsfor a 10 kd traffic fine. Missed our flights because it was Ramadan 2009 and the policeman behind the counter didn’t want to deal with us. Went back the next week to travel again after spending hours fixing the situation at the courts only to be told that they haven’t removed it from the system.
lesson learnt:
check with egov site for bills before travelling.
i think the ban is necessary to force everyone to settle their due payments and admire having a counter to do that at tbe airport it self. . would be more convenient if the settlement were possible at the passport officer counter itself. . then guess both parties would be happy.
+1 khalid.
Unfortunately it is the only way you can get some people to pay their debts. I had to do it to someone once as a means to collect a 200KD debt.
If you owe someone money, you probably should not be going on vacation.
What kind of nonsense is that? Millions of people travel EVERY DAY that owe money.
This is not the way to settle dues. A travel ban should be the last resort not the first step.
Kuwait is not lebanon where foreigners come and use it as battle ground. Rules are rules follow it or get out.
Wait so you’re saying if we dont follow rules in Kuwait we get out? so More than have if not all the population should be out by now..
Wait so you’re saying if we dont follow rules in Kuwait we get out? so More than half if not all the population should be out by now..
@Mel If you can’t have a rational discussion without resorting to the old ‘if you don’t like it get out’ non argument then don’t bother posting. If you read carefully there are constructive comments as well. Using racist bullshit really doesn’t help your case.
That’s a half assed argument. Can’t you accept some constructive criticism?
You know they put travel bans on Kuwaitis too right?
1. did not read through the whole comments
2. you could and should have checked before traveling
3. sorry mate but you are coming off as a bit of a drama queen, you were in the wrong in terms of not checking, and in the end you paid your dues and had a good trip i hope
4. i have to express my huge disappointment with the allowance of bashing the whole country for something you were responsible for
good luck and eid mubarak
1. read the whole comments
2. no i shouldn’t check because i didn’t kill anyone
3. i was not in the wrong for not checking. which other country puts a travel ban on you for not paying a KD10 phone bill?
4. you’re being a drama queen here
I had a travel ban for a bit. They told me I was too sexy to leave the country. If I left the sexy factor of all men in Kuwait would diminish exponentially. Eventually they backed off when they saw there was enough sexy to go around and that I would be bringing sexy back.
Justin Timberlake? Is that you?
It might be Right Said Fred doing a come back tour!
Moral of the story – check in real early so that you have time to digest surprises like this and sort them out (hopefully)
Expats who have lived in Kuwait for long feel that they own this country and the aircraft and the airport they use.
You seriously think Anybody would want to own Kuwait Airways!! Well if you have not flown on any airline other than Kuwait Airways you wouldn’t know, can’t blame you for thinking like that…
the need for travel ban is there, as before many were fleeing easily with lots of debts on their head. But i guess the govt did not think of step by step procedures to apply for such law. they just implemented a blanket rule . 5-50-500-5000 all in one category. u have a payment to do so just pay it.
Mark i can understand when u say just 50 kd ,,,
u have a platform to send ur msgs to the authority people. why not have a debate discussion from various people and send the suggestion to the authorized people.
As said by many here, law is needed but the way to implement is wrong. no system no procedures no websites (many of the egov websites keeping hanging or crashing) no prob info available
there are numerous problems of such kind i guess, the travel ban prob u faced is just the tip of iceberg
Sorry, but owing money is NOT a reason for travel banning. If you can’t recover a debt then don’t issue credit in the first place. If I want a loan, the bank will only lend me what my company has saved in its gratuity account for me, when I leave. If I skip the country owing money they can recover the money from my employers.
If you are worried about someone absconding with money then don’t lend it to them…it really is quite simple and doesn’t require a travel ban. It is the risk associated with unsecured loans that is the problem but this risk is taken on by the lender. None of it requires a travel ban to ‘help’ greedy lenders who miscalculated the risk.
I agree. Risky lending is the problem.
I do not know a single person that checks for a travel ban before they travel, its not a common practice. I think people checking for a travel ban are people who know they have done something wrong.
Not paying 50KD for a ticket or whatever is not a criminal act. Taking a loan and not paying it back is a criminal act for example.
Its not that Mark forgot to pay this, he didn’t even know about it, yes everything turned out to be ok in the end but why would you want to be put in such a situation for no fault of yours at all.
If the country is to take the effort of putting a travel ban on me id expect the effort of informing me. I dont need a phone call, if I get a travel ban for not paying my phone bill id expect an SMS at least, they have my number, i got a ban because of it.
Inform me so I solve it, that way i dont waste my time, i dont waste yours, i dont waste the governments time.
I am glad the whole thing is over; but Mark you should check to see what the thing was in the first place. It could be that your civil id was put in by mistake.
Yep, it happens.
w t f ?! lol that sucks
Dear Mark you need to check your status before you leave out from Kuwait. Your post is very Anti Kuwait, you didnt like Kuwait Authorities doing their job. You should be happy that they have been doing their job on the airport.
So me complaining about getting a travel ban is anti kuwait? How much more small minded can u get?
LOL!!!!!!!!! Anti-Kuwait?! Mark, I am a Kuwaiti and I agree with everything you said! WTF is up with the travel ban that was given for no specific reason? Really funny stuff man.
lol ur comments make me laugh, joyfully.
Wait, when did you lose the case againest that shitty restaurant?
I’m willing to give them my name if they want to sue me…
But seriously, I thought it was done and you won the case!
http://248am.com/mark/kuwait/benihana-lawsuit-update/
You LOST your case? You paid 5,000 freaking KD because you reviewed the restaurant how you viewed it? What the hell… We need some better laws regarding free speech here.
Hello Mark,
I just want to tell you that there is another office for the ministry of justice in the airport which you can go to before you check in.
Regards,
Hi Mark, where is the other office of Ministry of Justice in the airport where i can go before I check in?
Thanks,
Im sorry I should have said Hi Abdulrahman:)
To sum it up…Mark is correct, Mel is ignorant and Andy is spot on!
There you go…now you can all call me what you like!
well,
let’s say someone have overdue payments for taking a large sum of loans and BOOM! out of the country.
Or another case, Someone is is banned from traveling due to case of MURDER. trust on this it happened plenty of times.
One i could remember is “Ahamdi’s/Feheheel’s Rambo”. was wanted for murder and they did establish a ban before it’s too late.
another example from Dubai, at the awake of financial crisis. most expats ran out living their loans other things with out settling a thing.
tl;dr
Check the E.Gov homepage before living folks
Happy Eid
Holy shit so many comments. Btw Mark, just out of curiosity, how much did you pay Benihana and the court for that case?
I believe the default judgement for any case is 5001 KD if no other damages are specified.
what’s with the 1? It’s like they’re taunting people.
“HAHA, you have to paaaay! not just five thousand, but five thousand AND ONE!”
KD 1,000 according to his post http://248am.com/mark/kuwait/benihana-lawsuit-update/
One way of looking at this is:’ they say you haven’t arrived until you’ve got yourself a travel ban’. Does that make you feel a little better?
What a relief! For a change, we are not talking junk food here.
speaking of junk, in relation to your nickname, when will they update our crappy airport and fleet?
Fleet I don’t know. Airport it supposed to have been given the green light; however since our parliament seems to be more of a Friday fish market than a place of rule and law – good luck on when it will actually get started.
The winning design was done by Foster + Partners in coordination with Gulf Consult.
Check it out: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/Projects/1879/Default.aspx
The airport project should not go through Parliament, there should be a development committee that it goes through for approval and I believe because it must get approval from the Parliament, it lies on the Parliament floor. This is the most important project for this country because it is the gateway to this nation. But I believe it is purposely being stalled by who?
Are they discriminatory toward expats when it comes to imposing travel bans or is everyone treated the same?
it is indeed a sad state fo affairs when you get slapped with a travel ban for something so trivial……
i know you dont expect to be on list but one should check the travel ban just as a precautionary,also this was imposed last month i guess.
Why not check FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list as well?
you may go a head and do so.people like you dont have their own brains to think independently.
Seriously, unless you traffic in cocaine on a regular basis, there is no reason to check for a travel ban. Your argument is invalid.
I heard about this sort of thing while I was in Kuwait. I’m not sure I can find a better term than “retarded”. One example of why Kuwait will remain a “third world country”. All the money in the world cannot make you have “sense”. I was very disappointed to see what Kuwait was like after an absence of 20 years. Where is the development? The improvement? Taqaddom? A country that, unfortunately does not respect people and finds nothing wrong with travel bans – without notifying legal, hard working residents that they may owe some money and that it could impact on their ability to travel. Why treat people as if they were dogs? If people are treated like dogs they will all just shit all over your country. Reap what you sow.
Amen
Mark,
I agree with you about the travel ban.
IT should be the last resort after all.
Yeah true about what Anon too but i wouldn’t want to disrespect the place i live, i respect the citizens here a lot.I try to help them too in any way i can.I am an expat and i feel somethings are not right but hey.. at least mark didn’t get an arrest warrant..:P
This is what happened to me:
In my case i had a travel ban and arrest warrant when i checked on the egov site..And what did i do ?.. Let me recall…All i did have was a 50 KD fine on zain postpaid ..lol well for what ?…all because i forgot to pay the amount and changed my sim to prepaid..Well the good thing was zain had send me an sms saying i had a fine, travel ban and arrest warrant.Thanks zain for the gifts.Ok so i thought to myself so am i a criminal now ?….pretty cool huh..
so this is what i did..
i went to the zain HQ to find out about this..but hey i was on a different planet as no one spoke my language which is English. Even the security guard wasn’t letting me in when i tried to explain him and to make matters worse each building had a temp access card which i had a tough time to get it from the guard.
Anyway i did pay the bill and got some proof about the payment and they told me to go to the Ministry of justice to remove the travel ban.
Ok so far so good..I went to the Ministry and guess what…it was a market there..everyone running around like they had to sell something.. weird no system.no sign boards in English..and no one had any clue what i was talking about.this was in 2nd floor..to my luck i met a good expat who helped me in removing the travel ban from there and they told me go next to the sulabiya main police station…i was freaked out are they going to arrest me there.I hope not.I went to the police station and showed my paper to the in charge and he showed great manners to me..how ? he snatched the zain and court papers from me and told me to spit out my civil id no in 60 miles per hour.
Well that was quick..i haven’t done that in quite some time now, even in my school.Well that done, the in charge told me to check online for the arrest warrant in the next 7 days..7 days ?..Oh maybe they are using the 386/486 computers as servers even today.
And voila after 7 days it was removed..nice what a journey..thanks to zain for 50KD..
I agree that i forgot to pay the postpaid bill but hey iam a human and i tend to forget..hehe and i paid my price for all that with the frustration, thanks to zain.
Lesson learned: Never forget to pay the bills.
I know my bro mark has nothing to do the paying of bills but thought of giving an insight of my experience.
Good bye..Have a nice day guys.
Mark,
again, you traveled and you paid something that was due on you and that which you should have checked and taken on as your responsibility
if you did not know of it then yes we can blame them for not making it obvious that you should check. personally i’ve always done so for myself and my family
the whole “you are being a drama queen here” was rich but i guess it’s all in a day’s work for you – pun intended
best,
3ali ilyousifi
Everyone says to check the travel ban website:
http://eservices2.moi.gov.kw/2010/EngMOIeServices.nsf/Services?OpenFrameSet&Frame=Main&Src=%2F2010%2FEngMOIeServices.nsf%2FEngLBlackList%3FOpenForm%26AutoFramed%26LastNum%3D
However, this requires registration at “Ministry Of Interior – The General Directorate Of Information Systems”. Now, there is no such link on the website, and it would have been just as easy to make the sentence a link. Others have given the actual link for MOI-TGDOIS as https://www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw/mojweb/NGeneral/Main.jsp. This is entirely in Arabic, which is no help to me. I also was detained for a 50KD fee which no one could explain to me. Like Mark, I have no car registered to me and only pay-as-you-go phones. Can anyone provide the website link to register for the system that is in English? Thanks!
Hi – I admit I didn’t read all the comments – where can we check online if we have a travel ban (I have absolutely no reason to think I should, but now I would rather play it safe!)? (and, is it in English?) Thanks.
I’m going to say it, my favorite line in Kuwait that sums it all up, “ONLY IN KUWAIT!” A key issue here was that he needed a boarding card before he could address it, so why is that, because you are afraid that too many people will come to the airport in advance to check to see if they have a travel ban and you ONLY want to put two people on the desk? I realize, being a law abiding citizen who dutifully pays his bills, it would not dawn on him that he has a travel ban, another key part of this matter, why would a country put travel bans on people for trivial debts? Why would you not develop a notification system to alert someone that you need to pay an over due bill like a telephone bill or a traffic fine? Because you are lazy! Just like the travel bans placed on nationalities. A few Pakistani’s come in the country with forged passports or condoms full of heroin in their stomachs and you ban the whole nationality from entering the country because you are lazy. You need an organizational structure in this society, and you need to understand that all these processes MUST be in English also because you have millions of expats in this country who do not speak Arabic and this policy affects them all. If you don’t understand how to run your country, then take a one hour flight to the UAE with a paper and pen and take notes, all your answers to your problems are there.
http://www.kuwaitcourts.gov.kw and get the page translated to english.
MOJ website..hmph..Third World Country indeeed… in a country where you have a million plus expatriates 80% of which speak english if not read english as an unviversal language you have an official website from an official ministry completely in Arabic with no options to see the same website in English.
How do they expect decent law abiding expatriates to check on their legal status if they cant even read the God dammn website?? Maybe they expect that we should invite our arabic speaking friends over to dinner and then for desert read and transalte for us.
I am with Mark on this issue and he has a point to be held up for something as trivial as a 05 KD or a 50 KD fine thats stupid. Ok anything over a 100 KD thats understood. That too if the the paypent is over due for a long period of time lets just say a month or so…. or like he said for something really serious such a rape , murder, embezzelment or robbery.. thats understood
They have all our details when we take a phone line, an internet subscription, or any thing official for that matter based on our Civil ID information. What is costing them to inform us via SMS or a summons that we are in violation of some law or we have a fine or bill that needs to be paid.
If the MOI can set up an agency to deal with with the domestic help recruitment issue why cant they set up a department to deal with official summons or collections of unpaid bills and fines. Every company, ministry, organization or individual with an overdue claim could file a complaint with the department and they could officially deal with collections.
They talk about unemployed youth of this country and stuffing them into allready over staffed ministry jobs. Why dont they set up a department and these young educated Kuwaiti youth as collectors to work under this department. How difficult would it be for them to pick up a phone and say ..Hi or Salam is this so and so ?? This is officer abdulla calling from Kuwait Ministry of Interior Collections department; as per our records you have a fine or a bill of XYZ KD pending. Please settle it within 20 days or face a risk of further legal actions including arrest and or a travel ban. Shit I’d crap my pants if I got an offical call like that and tear down to the nearest Ministry Kiosk to find out what the fuck was going on and settle the issue.
To be denied exit when going on a holiday at the last freaking moment and then to sit with an uneasy quesy feeling as if waiting for an impeading execution only to find out its for a trival thing like a 10 KD fine and loose a
KD 1000+ holiday over it is just plain wrong.
Even with a payment facility at the airport its still wrong. What if the payment facility is just that a a payment facilty but your legal status doesnt clear up then and there? What happens if they say ok fines paid now get clearance paper from law clerk from Ministry of Justice or the Lawyers Complex then what??
Just plain wrong IMOP
Mr. Securityadviser
Well I think that you should learn Arabic or bring a translater it’s not our job to learn English for u guys.
Then stop employing people who only speak English!!
I also want to add that we can make translation offices with our “young educated Kuwaiti” and make u pay for there salaries instead of the government. This way we will enhance the private sector :p
I did some recon today and went to the Ministry of Justice desk at the airport. There was one lady, who was not Kuwaiti at the desk, but she was grabbing her purse as another man (Kuwaiti) approached the counter. He had a xerox copy of a traffic violation in his hand that he was paying. I told her I wanted to inquire whether I had a travel ban against me before I travel and do I need a boarding card, she told me I didn’t and asked if I was blacklisted, I told her I didn’t think so, and she asked me for my civil id. Then I told her that I read in the newspaper that if I had any overdue telephone, water or electricity charges I could have a travel ban put against me and she confirmed that, so she asked for my civil id. She was very pleasant. After inputting my civil id she told me that I did not have any travel bans against me. SO…
1. I did go the airport without a boarding card and check the computer prior to travel to see how I stood in the computer. The time was 1:00 PM. This appears to be a good time to go to the airport to do this and I suggest that if you are Asian you bring a pushcart so you look like you are travelling because they seem to stop Asians who are not travelling from entering that area.
2. There is a Commericial bank at the airport, but you need cash or a KNET card to pay the fee.
If you are blacklisted, I feel sorry for you and this will result of a court junction against you. You may have to hire someone Arabic to help you jump through all the hoops to unravel a blacklisting. I agree with everything Security Advisor stated above.
Hi Ahmed can you tell me exactly where is that officer desk which I can inquire if I have any travel ban against me. Thanks
Mr. Abdulrahman
The point is not wether I know Arabic or not.
The point is that a MODERN 21′st century government web site should be accessable by all people living in that country….residents and citizens alike.
As for learning arabic I do speak Arabic; and quiet fluently too. I can also can read basic arabic to certain point to survive and find my through. For the difficult stuff there is always Google Translate though not always 100% reliable.
I also can speak basic Spanish, French,Hindi, Urdu and when in the South East basic Tagalog and Thai with the ladies. If you get my drift ;-)
How many laguages can you speak other than Arabic and of course the language you typed in??? Which by the way had you not learnt you would not be commenting on this blog in the first place.
As for setting up a translation booth and us paying for it.. Is it not enough that 35 to 45% of your government salaries are allready paid by us from the charges the government charges us to renew our family and dependants residence permits ,our vehicle registrations,our driver’s licences,trumped up traffic fines during traffic week,and other basic services.
What about the free medical sewrvices that you enjoy from the Government paid for by the charges we expatriates pay for medical visits to government hospitals on top of the non-viable nor useful medical insuerance fees that we must pay wether we like it or use it just to renew our residence permits every year.
The very same medical insuerance where as an expatriate the standard one can expect from a Govt Medical facility is either Fludrex or Panadol for a brain tumor!!
What we need is a change in attitude your attititude of ..If you dont like it learn or GTFO just doesnt wash anymore in a modern society.
lol yeah i’m sure that is what pays for it .. :) elhamdulelah welsheker
“paid for by the charges we expatriates pay for medical visits to government hospitals on top of the non-viable nor useful medical insuerance fees that we must pay wether we like it or use it just to renew our residence permits every year”
Every country in the World has silly rules or legislations not just Kuwait, but wuts frustrating is you guyz commenting here and calling us a backward and third world country.
I’ll leave you guyz to be the judge of OTHER COUNTRIES SILLY LAWS, and your welcome to call them backward, third world, retarded or any other civilized forward thinking name of your choice.
http://centstwo.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-stupid-laws-for-2012.html
http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/new-york
http://www.stupidlaws.com/recent-stupid-laws/
(BTW I dnt agree with the travel ban law – I personally think it’s a bit too much, and it must be refined to include only high debts, people with prior debt problems etc.)
I Just dislike all these rude comments .. ako esloob bl 7achi mala da3i tajree7!!
I am on a travel ban in Bahrain for more than 2 years now due to unfinished contract. I can’t either exit nor transfer to another employer. So, that leaves me no option to pay off the debts. The authorities have promised to look into my case and said I could work but up to now it is still the same thing. It’s 2013 already.