Visa requirements for Kuwaiti citizens

Kuwaiti citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Kuwait and 17 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

40 countries ask holders of the Kuwaiti passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Kuwait without one: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bhutan and 35 others.

The reverse holds for 79 countries: holders of the Kuwaiti passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Kuwait (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh and 74 others).

72 countries ask holders of the Kuwaiti passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 21 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Kuwait.

51 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Kuwait, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Kuwait, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Saudi Arabia (8), the United Arab Emirates (2), Israel (2) and Qatar (2).

The United States refused 6.1% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Kuwait in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 14 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 182 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Kuwait refused 5.7% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 63rd highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Kuwaiti passport

By continent, the Kuwaiti passport is visa-free in 25 countries in Asia, 15 countries in the Americas, 10 countries in Africa, 5 countries in Europe and 2 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Kuwaiti citizens are allowed in Georgia (360 days), Armenia (180 days), Egypt (180 days), Lebanon (180 days), El Salvador (180 days) and Vanuatu (120 days).

Visa on arrival

Kuwaiti citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros and 27 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Kuwaiti citizens enter Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and 23 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and the United Kingdom ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Kuwait’s neighbours

Saudi Arabia admits Kuwaiti citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Iraq (visa on arrival for up to 30 days).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Saudi passport ranks 99th (87 destinations) and the Iraqi passport ranks 196th (30 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 5 can enter visa-free, 52 get a visa on arrival, 1 need an e-Visa, 139 need a visa from an embassy or consulate and 1 is not admitted for Kuwait.