July 10, 2022 marked the 60th anniversary of the issuance of Law No. 11 of 1962 regarding Kuwaiti passports during the era of the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, who also played a vital role in Kuwait getting its independence and the beginning of a new phase and construction process in various fields of which the passport was an important requirement of that stage.
Historically, the Kuwaiti passport has gone through several stages since the Kuwaiti-British treaty until today, reports a local Arabic daily, saying, “Today it has been internationally distinguished as an important sovereign document. It is currently one of the best passports in the Arab region and the world and is designed according to the highest standards.”
On this occasion, the Deputy Director of the Kuwaiti Travel Documents Department at the Ministry of Interior, Colonel Jurist Muhammad Al-Khudair, told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the Kuwaiti passport has gone through several stages since the issuance of the aforementioned law and witnessed radical changes with the aim of protecting the information of its holders, leading to the new smart passport that is currently in use since 2018.
It is electronically designed according to the highest and latest international technical and security standards. Colonel Al-Khudair explained that the State of Kuwait currently issues three types of electronic passports, which are ordinary, diplomatic and special, all of which comply with the requirements and recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Colonel Al-Khudair stated that the size of these passports are identical, and they can be distinguished by the color of the outer cover, and each passport consists of 64 pages, and all data is mentioned in both Arabic and English, stressing that the Kuwaiti passport is currently ranked 56th in the world and third in the Arab world according to the (Henley) Passport Index, and allows its holder to enter 95 countries around the world without a visa.
He indicated that this passport was awarded (outstanding achievement for the best electronic passport for the year 2018) during the participation of the Ministry of Interior in the annual global conference on the printing of security documents, which was held in Poland.
He pointed out that the General Administration of Nationality, Passports and Travel Documents issued during the first half of this year about 188,000 passports, stressing its keenness to develop its services, as the electronic passport renewal service was added last September for the benefit of the citizens.
Colonel Al-Khudair indicated that there are other services under study, such as the delivery of the passport for a nominal amount of money, and passport renewal services in public places such as shopping malls, as well as the airport.
Kuwaiti heritage researcher and writer Basem Al-Loughani told KUNA that Kuwait signed an agreement in 1899 with Britain, which became the one concerned with foreign affairs, including the issuance of the passport.
Al-Loughani added that the value of extracting this document was one rupee, and it was a paper containing the traveler’s data, and it lasted for one year.
He explained that Iran at the time did not allow Kuwaitis to enter the country except with this passport called (Knowledge and News), as well as travel to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The passport took the same format, but it was written on a piece of paper topped with two flags in opposite directions and its value was two rupees (150 fils), and these two passports were only valid for one trip.
He indicated that in the early fifties of the last century, the Public Security Directorate assumed the task, and when Law No. 15 of 1959 was issued during the era of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, the Police and Public Security Department was established, and it was concerned with this and continued until independence in 1961, when the departments changed to ministries so that the Ministry of Interior specialized in this task.
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