Indian embassy in Kuwait begins registering nationals willing to leave

Kuwait City: The Indian Embassy in Kuwait has begun registering nationals who do not possess valid travel documents and want to return to their country.

In a statement on the website, the embassy said it has launched a ‘Registration Drive’ for Indian nationals in Kuwait who do not have a valid passport or valid emergency certificate. For those looking to register, the embassy has posed an online form on their website.

The embassy also stated that the ‘Registration drive’ is free of cost and documents can be collected at the embassy counter directly.

According to the embassy, an “emergency Certificate (EC) is a one-time travel document issued only for the purpose of entry into India within six months of the date of issuance and issued to such Indian nationals who have become illegal residents in any country and hence face deportation.”

Currently, there are around 120,000 illegal permit holders in Kuwait. It is unclear how many of those are Indian nationals.

The Indian community is the largest foreign expatriate community in Kuwait, with around 1.45 million Indian nationals residing in Kuwait. With a population of four million, Indians make up 36 per cent of the entire population of Kuwait.