Kuwait’s Aviation Authority Drops Fingerprint Attendance, Mandates Facial Recognition

Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has prohibited fingerprint-based attendance systems and ordered all staff to use facial recognition for time and attendance tracking. A circular issued on September 18 states that employees who fail to comply will face “legal accountability,” framing the change as a step toward greater accuracy and efficiency compared to legacy systems.

The new policy designates facial recognition as the sole method for clocking in and out across departments, units, and sections of the agency. Enrollment stations have already been set up at DGCA’s administrative headquarters in Subhan, where employees registered their faceprints earlier this year in preparation for the transition. The move formalizes a shift away from fingerprint authentication and replaces the long-running program that had been in use for workforce management.

Local reporting indicates that DGCA began rolling out facial recognition for staff earlier in the summer, introducing registration procedures and directing employees to begin using face scans for attendance. The September directive completes that process by banning fingerprint devices entirely, signaling a permanent pivot toward contactless biometrics for internal operations.

Kuwait has been steadily expanding the role of biometrics in government services, though most national initiatives have focused on fingerprinting for the country’s central biometric database and for access to Ministry of Interior systems. The aviation authority’s decision to move in the opposite direction for employee attendance highlights a preference for modalities better suited to environments where speed, hygiene, and queue management are critical. It also suggests that different government agencies may adopt varying technologies depending on operational needs, rather than adhering to a single modality across all use cases.

Earlier this year, DGCA mandated facial recognition for employee attendance as part of its transition plan, while Kuwait more broadly has expanded fingerprint requirements through policies such as mandatory biometric enrollment for expatriates. The combination of measures points toward a mixed-modality environment in which contactless biometrics are used in some operational contexts while fingerprinting remains central for national identity management.

Key questions remain about how DGCA will manage template storage and retention, whether transparency will be provided on algorithm performance, and what recourse employees will have if errors occur. The aviation authority’s decision may also set a precedent for other ministries, raising the possibility of further adoption of facial recognition in government workforce systems.

Sources: Arab Times, Envoy Global

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By the ID Tech Editorial Team