The Director of Passports Department at the General Administration of Nationality and Travel Documents, Colonel Abdullah Al-Amhouj, said the disbursement of Article 17 passports, which are granted to illegal residents, continues in accordance with previous decisions issued by the Department. He said those wishing to obtain these passports in accordance with the aforementioned article were requested to book appointments through electronic applications.
Al-Amhouj told Al-Jarida, that the groups which allowed to apply for the Article 17 passport are the children of female citizens, the wives of citizens, students studying abroad, and the sick.
He pointed out all of these groups must bring a valid security card as a prerequisite for issuing the passport, and the students must bring the registration schedule approved by the Embassy of Kuwait in the country in which they wish to study. With regard to treatment, the applicant must submit a medical report approved by the Ministry of Health, specifying the country in which the person wishes to be treated.
Al-Amhouj denied that passports are issued to, other than the aforementioned categories, pointing out that many illegal residents (bedoun) have obtained appointments to visit the General Administration of Nationality and Passports in order to obtain passports in accordance with Article 17 but the conditions do not apply to them.
In this case, they were informed that passports are issued for treatment, study, and the children of female citizens and the wives of citizens only, and those who do not meet the conditions will not be entertained even if they have obtained a prior appointment.
He stressed that the process of issuing Article 17 passports to students of unspecified nationality who are still studying and whose passports have expired during the study period, is continuing, provided that the student submits evidence of his continuation in studies approved by the Kuwaiti embassy in the country in which he is studying.
He pointed out that there is no delay of any kind in issuing these passports to the beneficiaries irrespective of whether they are students or patients. He explained the process does not take more than 48 hours.
Meanwhile, with regard to citizens’ passports, Al-Amhouj said that the administration has started renewing the electronic passports which were first issued in 2017 whose validity was for 5 years. Now these passports are due for renewal and called on all those who hold these types of passports to renew them.
An official stated “we have a sufficient stock of passports, which will cover all stages of electronic passport renewal,” pointing out that citizens, as well as Article 17 passport holders, must renew their passports 6 months before their expiry because there are many countries that do not accept passports which have a shelf life of fewer than six months.
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