The Kuwait Interior Ministry is working on a plan that would substitute ‘Residency Cards’ in place of Civil Ids for expats.
The General Department of Residency Affairs is aiming to introduce a mechanism that allows Residency Cards to have all details of an individual, so that it could be used for all formal transactions.
Furthermore, by handing over the responsibility to the Residency Affairs department at the Interior Ministry, the load on the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) will be further reduced. At present, PACI is solely responsible for processing and issuing Civil IDs for both nationals and expats. Since its year of establishment in 1982, PACI has so far granted 30 million Civil IDs.
By handing over the responsibility to Residency Affairs department, once the person leaves the country, the residency card will be immediately cancelled, as the residency is linked to the work permit status.
This initiative also aims to reduce illegal activity by ensuring that all necessary data are linked to a single card, as at times, expired Civil Ids have been used outside Kuwait by criminals.
