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1. 1. twaif | April 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

   its to prevent the cheating becouse lots of indians and bangladish workers who have problems and they are not allowed in kuwait anymore the gov. stamp their passport so they cant get into Kuwait forever but they cheat by changing their names and passport and its so easy there. and they get back to kuwait with new visa. the hand scanner will prevent that by identifiying finger prints.

2. 2. twaif | April 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

   thats what i think and heard of am not sure by the way

3. 3. um abdilwahab | April 26th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

   wish that they apply it as u said

4. 4. Qutaiba | April 26th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

   The MOI wants to creat an electronic fingerprints database to track criminals & illegal residents. They have a problem with workers from Bangladish who have been deported because of criminal activity, and then they enter Kuwait again under a different name or fake passports. Also sometimes when they capture a criminal or illegal resident(especially from Asia), they cannot identify them (they hide their passports) and they did not do the finger printing.

5. 5. venkatesh | April 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm

   some arabic nationalities also do the same.

   (when the intention is to avoid such cheating why to specify the country????)

6. 6. Britchick | April 26th, 2008 at 8:16 pm

   Mark please don’t be offended [i know it is very anal of me] but this bugs me:

   ‘When I came in today morning from London’

   ‘When i came in this morning’

7. 7. The guy | April 26th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

   Quick, hide the women, and children. The grammar police are on patrol.

8. 8. ang | April 26th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

   This is used for the new residency procedure too, you get scanned at the airport, and in case you need medical testing, they ask for it later on.

9. 9. Mark | April 26th, 2008 at 9:45 pm

   Grammar police are welcomed here :) fixing it now…

10. 10. AMQ | April 26th, 2008 at 9:48 pm

    sound the sirens….

11. 11. Hussain | April 26th, 2008 at 10:23 pm

    hmmm i think this is very good

12. 12. zig | April 26th, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    those guys don’t come in because of fake passports or unrecorded fingerprits…they get in using wasta….a fake passport is a fake passport and u can spot one a mile away…

13. 13. moayad | April 27th, 2008 at 12:16 am

    I remember seeing them last February but they were switched off back then, are they using them now?

14. 14. M | April 27th, 2008 at 12:32 am

    Thats a good thing, to prevent criminals and illegals, they have that in the US.

15. 15. hammoodee | April 27th, 2008 at 12:53 am

    what if their fingertips are covered with crumps and dead skin? :X

16. 16. irishlassy | April 27th, 2008 at 1:33 am

    what happens if u have no hands or fingers?

17. 17. Amjad | April 27th, 2008 at 4:00 am

    irishlassy: eye prints are then used …

18. 18. holla | April 27th, 2008 at 9:48 am

    so like zig said, what happens when they skip the machine with wasta?

19. 19. zaydoun | April 27th, 2008 at 10:54 am

    So the grammar police are welcome now?? I remember when I called you out on “France Airport” and you never fixed it

    :-P

20. 20. Mark | April 27th, 2008 at 11:03 am

    Zaydoun, your comment was “Mark… I can’t believe you just called it “France Airport”!”

    Until this day I don’t know what was grammatically wrong with that title…

21. 21. Desert Girl | April 27th, 2008 at 11:15 am

    Can you use just one finger? ;)

22. 22. Anonymous | April 27th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Twaif and Qutaiba : Why are you specifying only Bangladeshis and Indians? Open your eyes and read the newspapers. It not only the above said nationalities. In every country, there are criminals. Its not defined to a particular place. C’mon guys NO RACISMS & DISCRIMINATIONS!!!
    There is a saying that “Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.”

23. 23. zig | April 27th, 2008 at 3:13 pm

    i just remembered seeing these machines at the British Visa Office.
    They scan finger prints of visa applicants. Maybe this is the new way to get the fingerprints of expats, instead of messy ink. You arrive at the airport, they scan your prints…

24. 24. Mind your finger print | April 27th, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    If Kuwait has got it now then surely, Dubai must have had it eons ago.
    I am sub-continental and have to say that the most visa offenders into Kuwait are from the subcontinent - Bangladeshis, Pakis and Afghans ( in that order ).
    I am happy if this machine can keep away those Bangladeshi cabbies who like to moonlight as pimps in Kuwait. It’s a pity the machine can do nothing about some of the locals, though who also like to earn their corn through visa trading. Maybe some just don’t take to commodities trading too well! No probs there’s always visa trading for them

25. 25. Qutaiba | April 28th, 2008 at 1:46 am

    I was not singling out certain nationality, i was just explaining the reasons behind such a decision. I do not make the rules, I was just explaining it. Also, according to the MOI the workers from Bangladish (not all of them) are the ones who make most of the crimes ! thats why sometimes you hear about the MOI stop giving visa to domestic workers from Bangladish. This is based on their experience with this particular nationality

26. 26. Q80Warlock | April 28th, 2008 at 8:20 am

    They installed it to scan deported foreigners, most of them actually cheat by changing their names and comeback with new passports.

    And by the way it not just the Indians and Bangladishi’s, some arab nationalities are also doing it now (mostly Syrians).

27. 27. Burhan | April 28th, 2008 at 10:48 pm

    This is also part of ongoing efforts across the world to digitize travel documents; largely due to a diplomatic shove from the US.

    Essentially –

    All travelers should have e-readable passports/travel documents. To know if your passport is e-readable (yes, kill me now grammar police, but that’s what they call it) look at the page with your name on it. If it is written in portrait and has a bunch of >>> at the bottom with your name, then its e-readable (this is the old form — the newer passports have a different format). If you have any kind of visa to the US; have a look at it to know its e-readable; also I believe UK passports are e-readable. This is to both stop offenders and to improve transit — ahem — “experience” for legitimate travelers (read: not being strip searched).

    Its not only Kuwait, on a recent trip to Pakistan I had my photo taken at the immigration counter (from a Logitech web cam) and my passport information updated; I know these machines have been installed at Dubai since I started taking regular trips there which was about a year ago.

    Good stuff if you ask me. Oh and Mark — “hand scanners …. I wonder what they are for…” — hrmm, I don’t know? Scanning fingerprints maybe? :)

28. 28. Nour | June 21st, 2008 at 9:44 am

    International information exchange database to detect illegals/criminal activities.

    Hey, Big Brother.

29. 29. Pissed Off | July 3rd, 2008 at 3:59 am

    Yup… Thats a DIU ( Digital Identification Unit) :-) . Its quite common in some of the high end corporate offices here that pay great attention to security. Basically one has to be authorized to enter.. period. Also used on all US Military bases here where I work only diff is along with scanning your hand you have to swipe an ID card to verify authenticity.

    Frankly I am quite surprised that Kuwait took so long considering the fact the MOI has been experiencing a rise in so many of the a fore mentioned criminal activities.

    As for mentioning specific nationalites this has pissed me off…. Like zig mentioned earlier WASTA…what about wasta??….thats what gets the criminals in and out of the country. I mean come on people wake up and smell the BS..The Kuwaiti Customs / Passport Control have to be either fucking blind or so very well greased up aka. BRIBED not to notice a fake passport !!!!

    Here in Kuwait wasta equals cash and who has a whole load of extra cash to bribe ahem take care of an official? :-) A laborer /poor ass worker from the Indian Subcontinent, Asia, Bangladesh?? Or a filthy rich local who has made his cash from bringing these poor souls into the country and then screwing them by not paying them , holding them hostage by keeping their passports & forcing them to pay him great amounts of cash each year so that they keep their residence permit??

    How do you expect these people to pay him ?? Lord knows a Taxi driver aint earning a KD 400 salary.. Nor a maid who hardly even makes KD50 that also if she is lucky enough to be hired by a decent family..other wise its a flat rate of KD 20 cause she just happens to be staying under THEIR roof , eating THEIR food and breathing THEIR air !!

    Is it any wonder then as Mind your finger print so casually said quote un quote ” these workers/drivers become pimps and their country women become prostitutes??” How else are they expected to pay to stay in this country?? DIVINE INTERVENTION PERHAPS??

    Dont mean to preach …just am pissed at the way everyone generalises Asians or Arabs to be criminals. I mean damn…. DOES ANY ONE READ THE LOCAL PAPERS?? Who the hell do you think is sodomising little boys out in the deserts?? Who do you think is grabbing innocent maids and boys in the middle of the streets and taking them to desolate areas to rape them ?? Which Asian or Arab do you know here in Kuwait has access to a fire arm?? Kinda makes you wonder huh??

    PEACE OUT……

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