(KUWAIT) — Lebanon launched biometric passport fingerprinting abroad on June 28, 2026, opening the first service point at the Lebanese Embassy in Kuwait and allowing citizens overseas to complete a step that previously required travel back to Lebanon.

Interior Minister Ahmad Hajjar inaugurated the service in Kuwait alongside General Security Director General Hassan Choucair, Lebanese Ambassador to Kuwait Ghadi Khoury, and Internal Security Forces Director General Raed Abdullah. Kuwait is the first Lebanese mission to implement the system.

The change allows Lebanese citizens seeking a Lebanese Biometric Passport to complete fingerprinting abroad at an embassy or consulate. Their biometric data is then sent electronically to Lebanon for passport issuance, removing the need to return to Lebanon solely for fingerprint capture.

The launch marks a procedural shift for Lebanese missions abroad, especially in places with large expatriate communities where passport renewals and first-time biometric applications can require repeated contact with consular offices. Under the new system, the fingerprinting step moves to the foreign mission while passport issuance remains in Lebanon.

Officials described the move as part of a broader consular modernization and digital transformation effort. The rollout is not limited to Kuwait; Lebanese authorities said they will expand the service gradually to other embassies and consulates across the Gulf before extending it to the rest of the world.

That sequence places Gulf countries first in the expansion plan. Lebanese applicants outside Kuwait now depend on announcements from their local embassy or consulate for opening dates, required documents and appointment procedures.

The practical effect is clearest in the handling of biometric data. Fingerprinting abroad no longer requires an applicant to schedule travel to Lebanon for capture, complete that step there and then wait for passport processing. Instead, the embassy or consulate collects the fingerprints, transmits the data electronically, and the document is issued through the authorities in Lebanon.

One report said the full process may take one to three months. That period includes transmission and diplomatic pouch return, indicating that while the fingerprinting step now happens overseas, applicants should still expect a multi-stage process before the passport reaches the mission for delivery.

Timing will matter for citizens with urgent travel plans, expiring passports or pending residency paperwork in their country of residence. The service removes one travel burden, but it does not turn passport issuance into a same-day or same-week procedure.

The Kuwait launch also gives the first indication of how Lebanon plans to handle biometric services across its overseas network. Rather than ask citizens abroad to keep traveling back for technical enrollment, authorities are shifting more of the intake process to embassies and consulates while keeping central issuance in Lebanon.

That model depends on coordination among the foreign mission, the electronic transmission system and the authorities receiving the data in Lebanon. It also places new weight on local consular announcements, since each mission will open the service on its own timetable as the gradual rollout advances.

Lebanese citizens seeking fingerprinting abroad now need to watch their embassy or consulate for operational details, including when appointments begin and what documents each mission will require. Officials have not announced a single global start date, and the expansion is set to move mission by mission.

Kuwait’s selection as the first post to offer the service gives Lebanese authorities a live test site for the new procedure before they extend it further across the Gulf. The approach suggests a phased implementation rather than a simultaneous global launch.

The shift may prove especially relevant for Lebanese nationals who need a biometric passport but cannot easily leave work, family or residency obligations in their country of residence to travel to Lebanon. Under the new arrangement, the most burdensome step in the application process, fingerprinting abroad, can begin at the local mission once that mission activates the service.

Lebanon’s consular network now faces the next stage of the project: expanding the Kuwait model to additional posts, first in Gulf states and then worldwide. Until those missions come online, Kuwait stands as the first operating example of a system designed to let a citizen start the biometric passport process abroad and complete it without flying home for fingerprints.