Kuwait sets rules for driving licence renewal
New regulations dispel claims about ban on expats’ licences
Cairo: Kuwait has announced regulations for renewing driving licences, a few weeks after a controversy erupted over an alleged ban on licence renewals for expatriates in the country.
Interior Minister Thamer Al Aly has issued a decree amending a traffic law related to licence renewal, Kuwaiti media reported.
According to the new amendments, licence holders shall apply for renewal within 30 days before the expiry date or other time limit set by the General Directorate of Traffic “as public interest dictates,” the media said without elaborating.
Attached to the application is an ID document and a certificate proving payment of traffic fines. For non-Kuwaitis, they are required to also couple their applications with a residency document and payment of fees.
Earlier this month, Kuwaiti authorities denied claims that they had banned renewing expatriates’ driving licences.
The denial was made after some Kuwaiti media carried reports that traffic authorities had temporarily halted renewal of driving licences for all expatriates in the country pending a new system to revoke licences of the ineligible ones.
The Interior Ministry explained that traffic authorities in coordination with the Department of Information Systems had carried out a “routine procedure” to update data of the issued driving licences replacing the old documents with smart ones.
“Anyone among foreign residents found to have obtained the driving licence illegally will have it withdrawn and be liable to legal action,” the ministry’s Security Media Department said.