Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Lt-Gen Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah has issued a decision to cancel residency stickers that are placed in the passports of expatriates. Such a decision is part of the ongoing upgrade process at various departments of the ministry, reports Al-Anba daily. [Source]
I wish they came out with this decision a few months ago before I got my new passport. Whoever stuck my residency sticker must have been blind because its tilted like 45 degrees, is partially occupying the adjacent page, and part of the sticker is also sticking out of the passport. Drives me nuts every time I see it.
35 replies on “No More Residency Stickers!”
seriously? 👊🏻I don’t think its a good idea. how can people travel outside Kuwait without passport sticker? the immigration officers will check the passport and not the civil ID when returning to Kuwait. It would be great to give 5years residency so that theres no need to replace sticker every year. Or refrain from putting extension visa stickers, temporary residency or commercial permit stickers these are all waste of space. and you are right, no of them done it the right way on my passport, it has always been diagonal and overlapping.
It’s so weird how people just love to complain. They’re saying no more stickers so we don’t have to keep filling up the pages in your passport and you’re here complaining that they should keep the stickers for some random reason that doesn’t make sense. amazing.
Lol it is not complaining, it’s a question. Then how would the other countries know that you have a VALID visa to Kuwait?
its complaining when the guy is upset that they’re stopping the stickers
Show them your Civil ID. By law your CI validity is linked to your residency validity and you can`t have a CI without a valid visa. my 2 cents…
If you bothered to read the article you would’ve discovered that “the decision will be enforced as soon as Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI), the embassies of some countries in Kuwait and airlines are ready.”
That should answer your question regarding how countries will know 🙂
https://www.qatar-gulfnews.com/qatars-residence-cards-to-replace-rp-stickers/
https://nricafe.com/qatars-new-residence-card-top-questions-and-answers/
have a look at these articles and you will get your answers
Bet there be a card with a chip replacing sticker and civilID…..
According to the Arabic newspapers, this is all being coordinated and communicated with all concerned parties locally and internationally.
Now, that’s so unfortunate about your passport.
But the big question I have is hows the passport control going of another country going to know that i have a valid residence for Kuwait.
Usually, either while check-in or at passport control, there would be someone asking the question, DO YOU HAVE A VALID VISA. All this while we always had our residence stamp on the passport, now if that’s not there, then what is the alternative to authenticate.
Probably its available electronically similar to how its done in Australia. No matter the type of visa you are holding there, you will not have a visa label on your passport.
Same way the passport control of another country can verify if you have residence in Saudi. The resident identity card serves as a proof of your residence in Saudi (one difference with Kuwait though is the requirement of exit/re-entry visa). There is no residence sticker when you renew your passport.
No, passport control officers of other countries don’t care if you have valid residency in Kuwait or not, you are asked this question during check-in when you are getting boarding pass from the airline. If you don’t have residency and you have denied entry in Kuwait, airline is responsible to take you back for free on their expense (not country of departure) and this is why they have to make sure that you have visa or residency.
It’s not that hard for any government to notify airlines about new regulations, will takes few weeks and that’s it.
Several misinformed comments here. Obviously immigration officers will be trained to ask for civil ID and passport when a resident arrives at Kuwait immigration. A biometric card is nothing new for residency purposes. Eg. UK has biometric ID cards for students which immigration officers ask for at customs. Excellent initiative by MoI. No more wasted pages in passport!
that make sense when you are in Kuwait immigration. What if you you flew from other countries to Kuwait? They will ask your visa from Kuwait for you to get on board. ID cards might not work as they dont have your biometrics for sure
They won’t implement the change until airports and airlines that fly to kuwait are able to accommodate the change. Your visa will be linked to your passport number as it is now so the immigration officers will check your status via the passport number and your biometrics.
I’m sure the civil ID contains your biometrics. What’s the chip for then 😛 re: flying from different countries to Kuwait you would just show your civil ID. I think IATA monitors/communicates visa status i.e. does this person require visa for their destination and what proof must they show
Current Civil ID cards doesn’t contain any biometrics and they don’t need it anyway. Your biometrics is stored in your passport, residency page inside your passport is just bad quality piece of paper and sometimes even unreadable. Visa and residency is important for airlines so they don’t have to fly you back for free if you get deported from arrival country. Passport controls in any country couldn’t care less about your residency, they just have to confirm identity and for that passport is all they need.
There are international protocols and specific requirements of each country’s immigration laws are known. So once this rule is implemented, authorities in other countries will know which document constitutes legal residence in Kuwait!
That’s reassuring.
Thanks for letting us know.
Kuwait embassies around the world will probably announce to accept the civil ID card as the official document for travel and residency and maybe the airlines/immigration can check the MOI website incase they are unsure if find discrepancies. This is similar to EU/AUS cards.
I just don’t understand what I’d do if I lose my civil ID card outside Kuwait.
Kuwait is a living backwater comedy. Welcome to the millennium
most important question is when will this be implemented.. as in date
This is great for Lebanese passport holders like myself. I need a visa EVERYWHEEERRREEEE and they always ask for like 6 empty pages or some silly shit like that. Residency visas take up a FULL page. For example you have three residency visas, a number of other travel visas and in no time, your passport is full and you need another one.
Have you ever tried renewing or applying for a new Lebanese passport? It’s not the smoothest process. Dealing with employees at any Lebanese embassy, now that is another rant for another timew ^$$&% phsdoifhgsd sfd!!!!!!
Q: What should I do when at Immigration in a country outside Kuwait, I’m asked to show a valid residency?
A: I show them my valid Civil ID (and they stamp my passport).
I don’t think immigration officers outside of Kuwait care if you have a valid residency or not. As long as you’ve gone through check in, you’re good to go.
It is the airlines that get penalized and incur extra charges if they let someone board the plane without a valid visa.
So all the training will have to be done for airline staff.
Immigartion officers usually do not give a hoot about what happens outside their turf. They are concerned only about what happens on their home ground.
Ummm in Europe they do. Trust me.
I was in Vienna and they looked at my Kuwait residency a bunch of times prompting me to ask them, “boy, why you so obsessed?”
Fair enough.
They check in India to make sure the passenger is not a case of human trafficking and they have a valid visa to travel.
They do check my residency every single time at Chhatripathi Shivaji airport. Yes bil kul.
Same here.. woman just slapped the sticker on at a 45 degree angle and said “roh” . Its not blindness.. its called slit or cinema scope vision 😉
I’m glad though no more stickers.. only thing left is to train immigration officers how to stamp passports in available spots on used pages and not to randomly stamp on brand new pages.
I wish they could come up with electronic stamp as well rather stamping randomly on brand new pages…exit stamp on one page, entry stamp on other 😐
How about you get a virtual passport then? You just use your finger print and all your data is there! No stamp and no passport.
Why not!!!
its a digital world…
Does anyone knows do we still need to renew passport if is has less than one year left before expired ,
Urgently needed answer, thanks.