Kuwait bans travel for expats without biometric fingerprint

• The General Directorate of Forensic Evidence operates seven days a week at eight centers, processing biometric fingerprints in under three minutes and handling up to 10,000 appointments daily, said First Lieutenant Talal Al-Khaldi.

The Ministry of Interior has announced that residents who have not completed the biometric fingerprint process will be unable to travel until it is done. Following the December 31, 2024 deadline, restrictions will also apply to other transactions, including government and banking services. These restrictions cannot be lifted from the ministry’s system until the fingerprint is completed, according to Al Rai newspaper.

First Lieutenant Talal Al-Khaldi, an officer at the General Directorate of Forensic Evidence, stated during an interview on Radio Kuwait’s “Second On Line” program that the total number of biometric fingerprints registered so far has reached 3,526,000 citizens and residents.

He explained that the target group among citizens comprises approximately 972,253 individuals, of whom about 956,000 have completed the fingerprinting process, leaving 16,000 who have not. Among residents, the target group is around 2,685,000 individuals, with 2,504,000 completing the process and 181,718 yet to do so.

Regarding the category of illegal residents ‘Bedoon’, Al-Khaldi noted that the target group consists of 148,000 individuals, of whom 66,000 have completed their fingerprints, while 82,000 have not.

Al-Khaldi emphasized that the General Directorate of Forensic Evidence is open seven days a week at eight centers to accommodate those who have not yet completed their biometric fingerprinting.

He stated that the fingerprinting process takes no more than three minutes, adding that the ‘forensic evidence’department has the capacity to handle 10,000 appointments per day, provided individuals register through the application to book an appointment in advance.