Under normal circumstances, visitors to Kuwait must obtain a visa unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries or countries eligible for visa on arrival/eVisa.[1] All visitors (except Gulf Cooperation Council citizens) must hold a passport valid for 6 months.

Visa policy map

Visa policy of Kuwait
  Kuwait
  Visa-free
  Visa on arrival or eVisa
  Visa required

Visa exemption

Citizens of the following countries do not require a visa to visit Kuwait and may use national ID Cards to enter the country for an unlimited stay:

As of November 2023, use of GCC ID Cards for entry has been restored for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries.[2]

Nationals of China holding normal passports endorsed for public affairs do not require a visa.

Holders of diplomatic or official passports of Albania, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cyprus, China, Egypt, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, India, Ireland, Malta, Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, South Korea, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and Vietnam and just diplomatic passports of Armenia, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Iraq, Mexico, Poland, Spain and Uzbekistan also do not require a visa. An agreement with Djibouti was signed in July 2019 and it is yet to be ratified.[3]

Visa on arrival/eVisa

Citizens of the following 53 countries and territories may obtain a visa valid for 3 months on arrival to Kuwait if arriving by air or they may obtain an eVisa before arrival: [4] [5]

A visa can also be obtained on arrival valid for one month for those holding a confirmation from a transporting carrier and are travelling for tourism purposes.

Passengers arriving by sea or land must obtain a visa in advance.[6]

Residents of GCC countries belonging to designated professions may also obtain a visa online.

Israel

Israeli nationals are banned from entering and transiting in Kuwait.[7]

Philippines

Visa issuance to Filipino citizens has been suspended and hence Filipinos with ordinary passports are banned from entering Kuwait unless they hold an Iqama (residence permit) or Kuwait Civil ID or they have a valid multiple entry visa issued before the suspension that they have used at least once to enter Kuwait, since any unused visas have been cancelled[8] [9]

Regulations

In recent decades, Kuwait has enacted certain measures to regulate the issuance of new visas for foreign labor. For instance, workers from Georgia and Morocco are subject to heightened security when applying for entry visas, and an outright ban was imposed on the entry of domestic workers from Guinea-Bissau and Vietnam.[10] Workers from Bangladesh and Pakistan are also scrutinized when applying for new visas.[11] In April 2019, Kuwait added Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Bhutan, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the list of restricted countries. According to Migrant Rights, the visa restrictions are put in place mainly due to the fact that these countries lack embassies and labour corporations in Kuwait.[12] A visa restriction on nationals of Ethiopia was lifted in 2018.[13][14]

After President of the United States Donald Trump's Executive Order 13769, which banned the entry of nationals from Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, Syria, and Yemen into the United States, several Western news sites published stories claiming a similar visa ban in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that they currently ban nationals from those countries from entering Kuwait.[15][16][17][18]

See also

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Kuwait.

References

  1. ↑ "Visa and passport". Timatic. International Air Transport Association through Emirates. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  2. ↑ https://www.ivisa.com/kuwait/blog/kuwait-visa-policy#:~:text=Bahrain%2C%20Oman%2C%20Kuwait%2C%20Saudi,at%20any%20port%20of%20entry.
  3. ↑ Forgot Username or Password (2019-07-17). "Kuwait, Djibouti sign visa exemption agreement". Menafn.Com. Retrieved 2022-03-21.
  4. ↑ "Visa and passport". Timatic. International Air Transport Association through Emirates. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "eVisa Application".
  6. ↑ "Entry requirements - Kuwait travel advice - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  7. ↑ "Visa information". Archived from the original on 2017-03-11. Retrieved 2023-04-02.
  8. ↑ "Kuwait halts issuance of new visas to Filipinos".
  9. ↑ "Kuwait: Suspension of Issuance of New Entry and Work Visas and Invalidation of Unused Visas for Nationals of the Philippines".
  10. ↑ "Citing Security Concerns, Kuwait Bans Entry to These Nationalities". Al Bawaba. 8 November 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Kuwait Re-Activates Ban on Bangladeshi Workers". Al Bawaba. 5 March 2018. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  12. ↑ "70% of domestic workers in Kuwait have expired contracts".
  13. ↑ "No Ethiopians to Kuwait - Kuwait Times". Kuwait Times. 2014-09-13. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  14. ↑ "Kuwait lifts Ethiopian domestic worker ban". GulfNews. 2018-04-04. Retrieved 2021-02-07.
  15. ↑ "Kuwait knocks down bogus claim following Trump's latest misstep". MSNBC. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  16. ↑ "KUNA : Kuwait denies reports entry visa ban of certain nationalities - Politics - 03/02/2017". www.kuna.net.kw. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  17. ↑ ""سبوتنيك" الروسية: الكويت سبقت ترامب في منع دخول 5 جنسيات". Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  18. ↑ "Visa for Pakistani Family - No ban only "restrictions" - ARAB TIMES". ARAB TIMES. 2016-07-06. Retrieved 2017-02-08.


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