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State of Kuwait
Ministry of Interior
Advance
Passenger Processing
System
Guidelines for Airlines
Version 0.7
November 2006
1.
BACKGROUND
The Advanced Passenger Processing (APP) programme is an initiative by the
government of the State of Kuwait to screen all airline passengers
before they board flights to or from Kuwait. The screening is
required regardless of nationality, and regardless of whether or not
the passenger intends to enter the country.
The APP system is used by many airlines to check passengers for a variety
of countries. Airline check-in agents use APP transactions to
query government systems and obtain a specific directive for each
passenger who is being boarded.
APP is a requirement for all airlines servicing Kuwait.
2.
PROCEDURES
The following points explain the procedures that airlines must follow for
flights to and from Kuwait.
Note on Airline Responsibility:
Airlines must still carry out appropriate checks, such as
face-to-passport comparisons, to identify if a passport is being
used fraudulently (such as using a stolen or forged passport).
Further, APP is a government authorisation to present a
passenger at the border and the Kuwaiti Immigration officers
reserve the right to reject passengers at the border regardless
of the APP directive, without liability to the government.
|
Boarding request |
An APP
transaction must be performed on each and every
passenger, being boarded, without exception. This
includes transit passengers who are passing through
Kuwait International Airport either on a transiting
flight, or arriving on one flight and leaving on
another. All passengers on an inbound or outbound
flight must be approved through APP. |
|
Positive response |
If a
positive directive (8501 “OK to Board” or 8503
“Board if docs OK”) is received from the APP system,
the passenger can be boarded. |
|
Error response |
If an
error message is received from the APP system, the
transaction must be repeated (with corrected data). |
|
Negative response |
If a
negative directive is received from the APP system (8502
“Do not Board” or 8550 “Contact MOI the passenger
MUST NOT be boarded. Instead the airline must
determine the likely cause of the problem, and take
appropriate action, as per the following section. |
|
Cancellation |
Airlines
should request a cancellation using APP for passengers
who were previously cleared, but do not actually board
the flight. |
Note on Airline Crew:
Operating airline crew are currently exempt from APP.
3.
DEALING WITH A NEGATIVE DIRECTIVE
The following points explain the procedures that airlines must follow
when the APP system provides a negative directive.
|
a |
Check
that the pax data was correctly submitted in the APP
transaction, especially names, passport number, sex and
date of birth. |
If it was
not correct, repeat the transaction using correct data. |
|
b |
If the
directive was 8550 "Contact MOI", the airline
MUST ask MOI for further instructions about the
passenger, usually by telephone. |
If MOI
provides specific uplift authorisation for the
passenger, the airline agent may resubmit the APP
transaction for the passenger and use the "Government"
override. The system will then respond with the
positive directive 8517 "Override accepted". |
|
c |
If MOI
DOES NOT provide uplift authorisation, the passenger
MUST NOT be boarded. |
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4.
SYSTEM OUTAGE
The APP system is very stable, and is very seldom unavailable.
Sometimes however, communication problems occur that make it impossible
to successfully complete APP transactions.
If the system is unavailable an airline needs to contact a local help
desk to determine whether or not the problem is caused by a local
fault, or is more widespread. If the problem appears to be
limited to APP, the SITA Help Desk in Atlanta should be advised.
·
In case of
any problem in APP system and after airline contact MOI to get
permission not using APP system , this permission doesn’t mean no
responsibility on airline to cover expenses to return the passenger
from where he came according to procedures in place without any
responsibility for MOI.
·
MOI is not
responsible for delay of airline departure due to screening for data
of similar names.
SITA Helpdesk contact numbers:
Telephone: +1-770-850-4555
Sitatex: ATLHDXS
Email: pss-helpdesk@sita.aero
If it is clear that the unavailability of the APP system will affect the
boarding of the flight, the airline should contact MOI to obtain an
exemption from performing APP for the flight. Further, in the
event that MOI cannot be contacted within a period of 20 minutes,
the airline may board passengers for that flight without APP
transactions and without MOI exemption.
5.
MANDATORY PASSENGER DATA FOR KUWAIT APP
The following passenger data items are required in an APP transaction
includes passenger name according what is written in the Passport:
-
Travel document number
-
Nationality (2-char or 3-char
country code)
-
Travel document type (Passport
or Other or None)
-
Family name
-
Given names
-
Sex
-
Date of Birth
If any of this data is either not sent by the airline or not held in the
immigration system, the APP system will respond with 8516
“Insufficient data” to request the airline to supply all of the
required data.
Airlines must provide this data to the APP system exactly as entered on
the Travel Document. Delays may result if inaccurate data for
a passenger is provided by an airline.
·
In case of
arrival of any person after screening of his data through APP system
and as his arrival it found that there are restriction do not enter
, he will be returned from where he came on the airline expenses
according to the procedure in place .
·
Is not
allowed the arrival for any person not holding passport, travel
document or Pass ticket.
6.
TYPES OF TRAVEL DOCUMENTS
APP transactions must indicate the type of travel document presented by
the passenger. There are three types used, as follows:
|
Passport |
Most
travel documents used by international passengers are
passports. All passports (whether normal,
official, or diplomatic) should be coded as "passport"
in an APP transaction. |
|
Other |
There is
a variety of other documents which are valid for
international travel. These include national ID
cards, military ID, refugee travel documents, seamen's
books, Pass Tickets. All documents which are not
passports should be coded as "other" in an APP
transaction. |
|
None |
Very
rarely, some passengers travel internationally without
any recognised travel document. All such cases
without documents should be coded as "none" in an APP
transaction. With the notice that not allowed of
entrance or departure for person not having passport or
travel document. |
7.
APP SUPPORT OFFICE
Queries relating
to APP transactions for Kuwait can be directed to the
MOI Support office at the following Number in Case of (No Board)
.
MOI
Support Office:
+965
4310635
and
+965 4338487
Please be
prepared to quote the passenger’s passport details as well as flight
details. |
