Kuwait tourist visa: e-visa and visa on arrival

The Ministry of Interior publishes a list of 54 countries whose nationals may obtain the tourist visa either through the website or on arrival. It covers the EU and Schengen states, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Bhutan, Georgia, Serbia, Ukraine and Türkiye, plus the European microstates such as Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican.

A second group is defined by profession rather than passport: residents of other Gulf Cooperation Council states who work as doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, consultants, judges or prosecutors, university professors, journalists, pilots, systems analysts, programmers, managers, businesspeople, diplomats, or owners and representatives of companies. Their GCC residence card must show the profession and be valid for six months from entry. If the platform rejects your nationality or occupation, the portal sends you to a Kuwaiti embassy instead.

Your passport must be valid for at least six months from the day you enter Kuwait; the platform checks the expiry date when you upload the data page and does not accept other travel documents. You must not be subject to any security restriction on entering or leaving Kuwait, and you commit to giving accurate information and leaving before the authorised stay ends.

The visa is for tourism and leisure only. It does not permit work, and the Kuwaiti authorities state they may reject or cancel an application or an issued visa at any time without giving reasons.

The tourist visa fee is set by nationality. The ministry's table exempts Jordan, Algeria, Sweden, Iraq, Palestine, Morocco, Norway, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Libya and South Korea; Egyptian nationals pay KWD 9 and everyone else KWD 3. Amounts are collected in Kuwaiti dinars by card or another online payment option and are not refunded once the visa is accepted. According to the FAQ, no fee is taken for an application that is refused.

Eligible travellers can choose. Applying online in advance means you board with an issued visa that you download from your account; the platform sends notifications by email and the Kuwait Visa app shows the status. Travellers who prefer not to apply ahead can request the same visa at Kuwait International Airport on arrival, where the same nationality list and passport rules apply. Either way the entry is single, so a second trip needs a new visa.

You may stay up to three months from entry. The FAQ says extensions depend on Kuwait's immigration rules and must be checked with the authorities in Kuwait; if a visit is extended, the same fee is charged again. Overstaying costs KWD 10 per day and can lead to a ban on future entry.