KD 120 Commercial

KUWAIT CITY, June 28: The Interior Ministry has decided to charge fees for issuing visit visas, a reliable source told Al-Shahed daily, adding it plans to charge KD 100 for a tourist visa and KD 120 for a commercial visit visa. The ministry will refer the decision to the Cabinet and the legislative authority after the summer break to pave the way for its implementation, he added.

Indicating that only governmental visit visas will be exempted from the fees, the source said the decision was taken after an inclusive study was conducted by ministry officials and the Technical Affairs Section of the Immigration General Department. Moreover, it has been noticed that several visitors were taking the opportunity to utilize free medical treatment or to work or beg inside the country.

The source said visitors burden the public services which the country provides to expatriates, particularly the health services since many visitors try to get treatment for free. "They get medical tests and analysis done here and even get medicines free of cost. All this burdens the country's budget," he said.

The visitors also exploit the good nature of Kuwaitis to beg inside mosques, the source said and pointed out that Kuwait is the only country which issues visit visas for free.

Meanwhile, sources said the Immigration General Department is still continuing the ban on all visit transactions of Syrians, Iraqis, Iranians, Pakistanis and Afghans due to the unstable political situation in these countries.

In another development, Director of Public Relations Department at the Ministry of Interior Adel Al-Hashash has announced that residence law violators who have submitted their applications to the Immigration General Department for legalizing their stay will be granted amnesty even if the processing is not completed by June 30th, reports Al-Mustaqbal daily. The amnesty offer ends on June 30th, 2011.

Al-Hashash once again called on all residence law violators to avoid legal punishment by either leaving the country before midnight of Thursday, June 30th or correcting their status by paying fines.

Meanwhile, senior officers of the Ministry of Interior held a special meeting last Monday to discuss plans to track down illegal residents who have not taken the advantage of the amnesty period to either legalize their stay in the country or leave without paying fines during the grace period, reports Al-Shahed daily.

A security source added the security authorities will begin a nation-wide crackdown beginning from July 1, 2011 mainly in farms and industrial areas, livestock pens and residential areas where mostly single men reside.

© Arab Times 2011