No Waiver For Residents Not Renewing Passports On Time All Must Respect Law: Al-Jarrah KUWAIT CITY, Dec 25: There is no consolation for expatriates who violate the law and fail to update their data at the immigration departments, reports Al- Rai daily quoting Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passports Major-General Sheikh Mazen Al-Jarrah. Speaking to the Al-Rai TV, the Interior Ministry official said, “I don’t think that the embassies should interfere in the internal affairs. We respect their laws and they should respect our laws.” According to security sources, until now the Ministry has collected more than a quarter million dinars in fines from expatriates. The security sources said 12 articles of the residence law are expected to be amended which will benefit the expatriates in terms of residence and dependent visas. However, Al-Jarrah said there is no waiver for those who fail to renew their passports on time before transferring their residence permit on new passports. The Major-General went on to say “The law is clear, it is not my problem if the officer in charge before me did not apply this law. We are in a country of institutions and everyone should respect the application of the law.” Meanwhile, the Al-Qabas quoting security sources said the number of residence law violators exceeds 100,000. The same sources said one wonders at the feasibility of continued security campaigns for the past so many years since the Ministry of Interior itself had announced a few years ago that the number of illegal residents was in excess of 95,000. The source said in addition to this there are several residence law violators behind bars at police stations and at the deportation centers. The Al-Qabas daily said it has learned that the ministry of Interior has activated Article 15 to link the residence permit to the validity of the passport. Meanwhile, the Al-Wasat daily said there has been some reaction from diplomatic sources following the activation of Article 15 of the residence law linking the validity of the residence permit to the validity of the passport. The Egyptian Ambassador to Kuwait AbdulKarim Sulaiman told the daily the decision of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior is surprising since “We have not been officially informed. It has caused some confusion and a sudden rush at the Egyptian consulate for two consecutive days.” The ambassador went on to say there were some unruly crowd incidents and “We had to call the police.” He added, “We are looking for an urgent solution to this problem through our contacts at higher levels even if it means summoning the ambassadors to coordinate the efforts in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the meantime, in a press release MP Dr Mansour Al-Thufairi has appealed to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammed Khalid Al-Sabah to review the decision of activating Article 15 of the residence law or at least granting them one month grace period to regularize their status.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 05:00:37 +0000
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