Kuwait Grants Visa-on-Arrival Access to All GCC Foreign Residents

New decision opens doors to over 25 million expats across Gulf states with simplified entry rules.

Publish date: Monday، 11 August 2025 Reading time: 1 min read

Kuwait Grants Visa-on-Arrival Access to All GCC Foreign Residents

In a major policy shift aimed at boosting tourism and regional mobility, Kuwait has announced that all foreigners residing in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states are now eligible for a tourist visa on arrival at all entry points.

The decision, issued Sunday by Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah and published in the official gazette Kuwait Al-Youm, takes immediate effect. The new visa will be valid for 90 days and is open to residents of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain, provided their GCC residency permit is valid for at least six months.

This move replaces 2008 regulations that limited visa-on-arrival eligibility to specific professional categories such as doctors, engineers, judges, and executives. With the change, more than 25 million foreign residents in the GCC can now visit Kuwait with ease.

Kuwait has long allowed nationals from many European, North American, select Latin American, and major Asian countries—including China, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore—to obtain visas on arrival.

The announcement is part of a wider effort over the past 15 months to ease visa restrictions for foreigners. The country has relaxed family visit rules, enabling expatriates to bring close relatives such as spouses, children, and parents for up to one month. It has also simplified procedures for hotels to sponsor visitors and for companies to secure business visas for foreign partners.

The reform is expected to significantly boost tourism, business travel, and cultural exchange within the Gulf, positioning Kuwait as a more open and accessible destination in the region.

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Kuwait Grants Visa-on-Arrival Access to All GCC Foreign Residents

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