KUWAIT: Well-informed sources said Deputy PM and Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid Al-Jarrah has instructed the citizenship, passports and residency affairs sector to prepare a full study on the total numbers of expats belonging to seven nationalities on whom entry restrictions have been imposed, pending granting visit visas to their first-degree relatives.

The sources added that the office of the interior ministry's assistant undersecretary for citizenship, passports and residency affairs Maj Gen Mazen Al-Jarrah has already started calculating the number of expats belonging to these seven nationalities who are living in the country and have applied for family visit visas for reunion purposes.

The sources said that the study showed that 14,000 residents, mainly Syrians, have applied for such visas and were asked to check with the department three months later. The study also recommended installing new forgery detectors at the airport to prevent the entry of passengers with fake passports. The study stressed that only first-degree relatives would be given family visit visas and that dependent visas will be restricted to certain humanitarian cases only.

By A Saleh