New condition for renewal of driving license in Kuwait; These documents must be submitted

Kuwait City: New conditions for renewal of driving license in Kuwait. The Home Department has directed that applications for renewal of driving licenses in the country should be made one month before the expiry date. Documents must be submitted at least 30 days in advance, including adequate documentation.

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From now on, only if all the documents are submitted. Interior Minister Sheikh Tamar al-Ali issued the order amending certain provisions of Resolution 1976/81 of the Traffic Act. Proof of identity (civil ID card), address and proof of payment of fines for traffic offenses should be submitted. Expatriates must be provided with a residence permit. Renewal of license will be allowed after payment of the prescribed fee.

The Interior Ministry said 421,131 driving licenses had been renewed, 23,754 had been confiscated or replaced and 1,320,026 dinars had been recovered in traffic fines.

Meanwhile, the MP announced yesterday that the Interior Ministry’s decision to temporarily freeze the driving licenses of expatriates in Kuwait has been suspended. The Home Ministry withdrew its decision amid protests from various quarters against the decision to suspend proceedings related to expatriate driving licenses. Earlier, the Home Ministry had directed the state government to suspend the renewal of driving licenses and replacement of lost ones till the completion of procedures to find illegal licenses. For this, the Ministry of Home Affairs had formed a technical committee headed by Under Secretary Lieutenant General Faisal Al Nawaf.

It was estimated that the previous decision to suspend the process of renewing the expired licenses of expatriates or to replace them with new ones would make it more difficult for expatriates. If this order were enforced, it would be considered illegal for expatriates to drive without renewing their license. In addition, he would face legal action and be expelled from Kuwait. The decision of the Home Ministry to freeze that decision will be a great relief to the expatriates. Otherwise, it would have created a major life crisis for expatriates engaged in driving-related occupations. It was pointed out that with the implementation of the decision to revoke the driving license, it may affect even the essential services, including hospitals.

Al Jazeera quoted senior Interior Ministry officials as saying that Kuwait had issued driving licenses to more than seven lakh foreigners in the country. This is the number of licenses registered with the Information System of the General Administration of Expatriates. Of these, an estimated 2.5 million do not meet the required eligibility criteria for licenses. The traffic department has already decided to cancel these from December 26.

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The traffic department had earlier decided to strengthen the inspection process to find out the driving licenses currently being held by expatriates illegally. As part of this, the verification process of the licenses currently issued to expatriates is in progress. As a part of this, the follow-up proceedings related to the license were suspended. Earlier in the day, it was reported that the Home Ministry was preparing to revoke the driving licenses of 2.5 lakh foreigners. The decision came in the wake of a finding that these were illegally held by expatriates. Following this, the authorities have ordered to stop the action on the new applications.