Kuwait suspends issuance of Visa for travellers from five major Muslim countries

Kuwait has suspended the process of issuing visas for travellers belonging to five major Muslim countries including Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Afghanistan in order to prevent the entry of radical Islamic terrorists.

This order closely follows US President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the entry of immigrants belonging to seven Muslim-majority countries including Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen in the United States of America for 90 days. For Syria the duration of the ban is indefinite.

Key Highlights

• The Kuwaiti authorities have informed future migrants from the five banned nations to not apply for visas.

• The suspension extends to all types of visas including tourism, trade and visitor visas.

• The key reason behind the ban is Kuwait’s worry of a possible migration of radical Islamic terrorists.
• In 2015, a group of militants had bombed a Shia mosque, which led to the killing of almost 27 Kuwaiti nationals.

• Being a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Kuwait has recently become heavily involved in the rising tension between the GCC and Iran.

However, this is not the first time the nation has taken such an extreme step, as in 2011 Kuwait had ordered a similar ‘blanket ban’ on visas of nationals belonging to Syria.