Kuwait warns foreign residents of upcoming deadline for compulsory biometric registration

Kuwaiti authorities have called on foreign residents in the country to ensure that they complete an ongoing compulsory biometric registration exercise before the government-prescribed deadline at the end of this year.

The deadline for Kuwaiti citizens to comply with the requirement elapsed in September, but aliens have until December 31 to do so.

Col. Thamer Dakhin Al-Mutairi, an official from the Personnel Identification Department, is referenced by Arab Times as saying that all those who do not meet the December deadline will have their transactions disrupted.

Already, the government says citizens who failed to meet the September deadline have a block on some of their transactions such as banking services, although they still have a chance to catch up.

The government indicates that so far, slightly over three million people are already done with the process, while over 754,000 others are yet to do so.

Al-Mutairi has also reminded residents of the points where registration takes place. He says it is safer to book appointments because all those who show up without an appointment may not be attended to by identification personnel.

Kuwait mandated a compulsory collection of fingerprint biometrics from citizens and residents in May last year, saying it is part of efforts to bolster the country’s national security architecture.

Digital ID apps ease services in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar

Meanwhile, in Kuwait, just like in two other Middle East nations, the use of digital ID apps is said to have seen strong adoption, leading to an improvement in access to a variety of public and private sector services.

In Kuwait, authorities say the number of users of the Sahel App is growing rapidly with over 4.3 million users in October alone.

This is probably thanks to the launch of the English version of the app, which now makes it easy to be accessed and used by non-Arabic speakers, per an Arab Times report.

This version of the App was long awaited, and its launch in September has made it easier for English speakers to use it for access to digital government services in a faster, more secure and user-friendly manner.

In Qatar, the government recently launched a digital government app to enable users obtain digital versions of their ID cards and other important documents, according to Qatar News Agency.

Known as the “Qatar Digital Identity” application, the platform allows for the possibility of accessing various important services without necessarily presenting physical ID documents.

As The Peninsular reports, the digital ID app can also be used for airport checks through biometric gates, electronic signature, document and identity verification, as well as access to digitally signed certificates.

Over in Oman, a digital ID and government portal is being used to facilitate registration for the hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage.

A recent announcement from the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs indicates that potential registrants can do so using their civil ID number, mobile number or personal card, per Muscat Daily. Oman is expected to register 14,000 pilgrims for the hajj in a process that runs from November 4-17.

In the UAE, a new pensions platform, dubbed Ma’ashi, has been launched and authorities say a digital ID is required to complete transactions on it, Emirates 24/7 reports.

According to the General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA), new users must create an account on the Ma’ashi platform before having access to the dashboard, while old users need to confirm their ID using an email verification request.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  digital ID  |  government services  |  Kuwait  |  Middle East  |  Oman  |  Qatar  |  Qatar Digital Identity  |  Sahel