The Interior Ministry in Kuwait announced that it would begin issuing one-year residency permit for expats soon, instead of the present two years or more.
This decision largely affects foreign wives of Kuwaiti nationals, children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis, non-Kuwaiti mothers whose children are nationals, and family members of expats.
The reason behind this decision is due to the repercussion of Covid-19 on businesses. Further, granting residency permits to expats for more than a year may require medical examinations, reviewing of security restrictions and other technical details.
Expats working in private sectors that holds a work permit of two years or more are however exempted from this decision.
Meanwhile, the ministry also pointed out that since the start of this month, about 400 residency violators amended their status and most of them reside in Farwaniya governorate.
In order to streamline this process, the ministry has launched a website for expats to make online appointment in their respective governorate before their visit.
It was estimated that in the month of April 2020 there were about 100,000 visa violators in Kuwait. The Ministry announced that the grace period has been stretched until 31st December this year.
