Kuwait sets a KD150 fee for converting a visit visa into a residence permit

Kuwait has put a price on switching from a visit visa to residency without leaving the country: 150 Kuwaiti dinars, roughly US$490 at current rates. The fee was introduced through Ministry of Interior Decision No. 1091 of 2026, issued by First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Al-Yousef, and published in the official gazette Kuwait Alyoum on Sunday 2 August 2026, taking effect immediately. It applies to the narrow set of conversion cases that Kuwait's new residency rules allow under Article 16 of the executive regulations, with domestic workers and equivalent categories exempt from the charge.

Background

Kuwait overhauled its immigration framework with a new Foreigners' Residence Law, whose executive regulations were issued as Ministerial Decision No. 2249 of 2025. For most visitors, the long-standing principle still holds: a visit visa does not lead to residency, and taking up residence normally means obtaining the right entry visa before arriving. Article 16 of the executive regulations carved out specific exceptions in which the General Directorate of Residency Affairs may approve a conversion inside the country. Until now the regulations listed the cases but no dedicated fee for using them; Decision No. 1091/2026 amends Article 39 of the regulations to add one.

What exactly changed

The amendment adds a provision to Article 39 setting a fee of KD150 for converting a visit entry visa into a regular residence permit in the cases Article 16 permits. Reporting on the decision lists those cases as: people who entered on a government visit visa and hold a university degree or specialised technical qualification, subject to approval by the Director General of Residency Affairs; holders of family or tourist visit visas who become eligible for family residency, typically by joining a spouse or parent who holds a residence permit; workers who had received a work entry visa, had to leave the country temporarily for unavoidable reasons and return within one month; and other exceptional cases the Director General approves. Domestic workers and those in equivalent categories are exempt from the fee under the regulations' Article 20 provisions. The conversion itself continues to require approval and compliance with the underlying conditions; the decision changes what it costs, not who qualifies.

Who it affects

The clearest group is families: someone in Kuwait on a family or tourist visit visa who becomes eligible for dependent residency, for example a spouse joining a partner who works in Kuwait, can complete the switch in-country but now pays KD150 for it. It also covers specialists invited on government visit visas who move into residency, and workers whose work entry visa was interrupted by an emergency departure and who return within a month. For anyone budgeting a family reunification move to Kuwait, the fee is a new line item on top of the usual residence-permit, medical and Civil ID costs. Visitors outside the Article 16 cases are unaffected because they could not convert before and still cannot.

What this means in practice

If you or a family member are in Kuwait on a visit visa and expect to qualify for residency, confirm with the General Directorate of Residency Affairs that your case falls under Article 16 before planning around an in-country conversion, and budget the KD150 fee. If a conversion is not available, the standard route of leaving and re-entering on the correct entry visa still applies. Employers sponsoring family members may want to flag the new cost in relocation packages. Our Kuwait country guide at /country-guides/kuwait covers residence permits, sponsorship and the cost of settling in.