Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior (MOI) announced that it will no longer grant visa extensions for expired visit visas and residency permits. According to the MOI’s statement, all residents and visitors with expired visas must leave Kuwait by 30 November to avoid any legal issues.  

The MOI urged all sponsors and businesses to complete the procedures to regularise the status of their employees, and all visitors to complete their travel arrangements to leave Kuwait, adding that those who do not regularise or leave by end of November will be deported and blacklisted from Kuwait.

Kuwait has granted visa extensions on three previous occasions during the Covid-19 crisis, the last 3-month extension having been granted on 1 September. Kuwait had also earlier announced that expats with residency permits which expired after 1 September 2020 must pay the usual fine of KD2 per day to renew their visas. 

Kuwait’s Al-Rai reported that there are about 190,000 expats with expired work permits and 5,000 with expired visit visas who must regularise their status or leave by the end of November.