Kuwait is to toughen up its measures regarding handing passports to stateless people residing in the country following the murder of a Kuwaiti citizen in Thailand.
The Kuwaiti army officer was stabbed to death during a fight on Saturday at a cafe in south Pattaya with two men described as “stateless,” a term that refers to long-term residents of Kuwait who have not been granted citizenship.
“Under the new measures, we will give passports only to those who need them for studies or medical treatment abroad, overseas business deals or to go to Makkah for Umrah or Haj,” Shaikh Mazen Al Jarrah, the Assistant Undersecretary for Citizenship and Passports Affairs, said. “We will not give passports to those who want to travel abroad for tourism or other purposes,” Al Jarrah told Kuwaiti daily Al Anba.
In such cases, passports granted by Kuwaiti authorities to stateless people function only as travel documents, and not documents of citizenship.
The senior officer said that they would not revoke the passports already given to stateless people.