Anyone who loses a Kuwaiti passport does not simply collect a replacement the next day. The decisive clause is written into the service description itself: the passport is issued after the legal period set by ministerial decision has passed — five months.
The steps as they stand
- The passport holder attends in person at the General Department of Nationality and Travel Documents, for an investigation into how and where it was lost. So the file opens with a question, not a form.
- The loss is announced in the official gazette, Kuwait Al Youm.
- A letter is submitted by the person concerned reporting the loss.
- Waiting until the period passes, after which the replacement is issued.
The fee
- A five-year passport: three dinars.
- A ten-year passport: six dinars.
There is no variable charge added to either.
Who is exempt
Under circular 159 of 2017: citizens with special needs are exempt from the fees, as are citizens aged sixty-five and over.
And a damaged passport is not the same
Replacing a damaged one requires the holder to attend the same department, with the documents approved at the technical office department — no gazette announcement and no waiting period of this kind. The difference between “damaged” and “lost” is not in the paperwork but in five months.
Photo: an old travel suitcase. By Sandrine Z, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Kuwait’s e-government portal, the “replacement passport for a lost passport” and “replacement for a damaged passport” services.
Kuwait One, once a week.
The most useful stories we published this week, in your inbox.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
