Stock Kuwait airport
Travellers arrive at Kuwait international Airport, in Farwaniya, about 15kms south of Kuwait City. Image Credit: AFP

Cairo: In a step aimed to reduce paperwork, Kuwait plans to turn to electronic check of police records provided by new expatriates before their arrival in the country for work or join the family, a Kuwaiti newspaper has said.

India will be the first country where the new system of oneline approval will be applied shortly before it is generalised in other countries next September, Al Anba added, citing a security source.

Coordination has been made between the Kuwaiti interior and foreign ministries and Indian authorities to allow expatriates from India to furnish their police records to the Kuwaiti embassy to verify their authenticity before sending them electronically to the Interior Ministry in Kuwait for approval after making sure they are not wanted for any offence in Kuwait, according to the source.

In recent years, Kuwait has digitalised several services to save time and efforts.

Earlier this month, Kuwait introduced more labour services via an app for government services known as Sahel.

The latest electronic services, launched by the Public Authority of Manpower, are related to checking about an employee’s absence, issuance of a worker data certificate and a labour history certificate, payment orders and certificate uploading.

The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry has also allowed issuance of domestic workers’ first-time iqamas via Sahel.

Foreigners make up nearly 3.4 million of Kuwait’s overall population of 4.6 million.