KUWAIT: If you are above 40 and apply for a driver's license or its renewal, you have to provide a photograph with glasses. If not, you will be instructed to revisit the eye clinic to make sure you can see properly. You will be given an application form by the traffic department and the paper should be taken directly to the Qurtuba eye checkup center. The checkup is free of charge. Ophthalmologists agree that after reaching 40, the eyesight of a majority of people slowly deteriorates and wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses is necessary.

An eye checkup is part of the process to obtain a driver's license. A Filipino man renewing his driver's license had to undergo an eye checkup once again because he is over 40. "I was told to go for an eye checkup because I was not wearing glasses in my photograph and I am 40," he said. "The doctor at the eye clinic told me maybe if I attach a photograph in the application wearing glasses, perhaps they will not ask to visit the eye clinic. So, he advised me to change my photo on the application form," the Pinoy applicant told Kuwait Times.

The applicant must go to the license section at the traffic department of the governorate in which they reside. The documents needed include the original passport, copies of the civil ID, two passport-size photographs, a letter of consent by the company if employed, the copy of the work permit issued by the ministry of social affairs and labor or a letter of employment from a ministry and eye and blood test reports. New applicants however are asked to submit not just the abovementioned documents, but also attested degrees and a salary certificate showing a minimum monthly salary of KD 400. Some professions are exempted from these tedious requirements.

By Ben Garcia