100,000 Kuwaitis set for travel ban

Up to 100,000 Kuwaiti citizens could face travel bans from January 3 for failure to pay state fines, it was reported.

The ban is part of a Kuwait-wide plan to recover KWD11m (US$39.1m) owed in unpaid fines related to the Ministry of Social Affairs, Kuwait Municipality or Ministry of Commerce and Industry among others, unnamed sources told Al-Jaridah.

Sources told the Arabic daily that an automated system linking the airport to government service centres has been implemented and the list of debtors will appear on January 3.

Debtors that fail to pay the fines within a year will be imprisoned until the payment is made, said the newspaper.

Reports from the Ministry of Justice last year said debtors will be automatically blacklisted after which authorities will suspend the individuals’ transactions with all service-related ministries.

The final stage will include a subpoena and a possible six-month jail sentence. The travel ban will be effective 90 days after the court order is issued and will be only be lifted once the fee has been paid in full.