Expatriates in Kuwait, who had missed a deadline to undergo mandatory biometric fingerprinting, will not be able to leave the country before taking it, a security official has said.
The deadline for expatriates in the country to undergo the procedure expired on December 31. The defaulters have since got their government and banking transactions suspended.
With the deadline expiration, those expats are also blocked from entering and exiting the country.
Last year, Kuwait extended a deadline for expatriates and citizens to undergo biometric fingerprinting. For Kuwaitis, the deadline expired on September 30.
A total of 3.5 million Kuwaitis and expats have done the fingerprinting so far, according to Talal Al Khalidi, an officer at the Interior Ministry’s General Department of Criminal Evidence.
The target group among expats are about 2.6 million of whom 181,718 have not yet undergone the procedure, the official told the Kuwait Radio.
“The doors of the General Department of Criminal Evidence are open throughout the week to receive those who have not undergone biometric fingerprinting at eight centres,” Al Khalidi said.
He stressed that the fingerprinting process does not take more than three minutes and the department has the capacity to receive 10,000 appointments per day. One has to register via a designated app to make an appointment in advance.
Kuwaiti officials have repeatedly underlined the importance of the biometric fingerprinting system, calling it a “state project” aimed to provide a database about everyone in the country. It is obligatory for people aged 18 or above.
The project is envisaged to help put an end to passport forgery and double citizenship that is banned in Kuwait. Foreigners constitute 3.3 million of Kuwait’s population of 4.9 million.
