Kuwait lifts 19-year visa ban for Pakistani citizens

KUWAIT: After 19 years of restriction, Kuwait has officially resumed the issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens.

According to a report by a foreign news agency, a long-standing ban on various visa categories has been lifted for Pakistanis.

After the ‘Kuwait visas ban lifted’, under new directives, a range of visas will be issued by Kuwait to Pakistani nationals, including work, family, visit, tourist, and commercial visas.

This step is likely to create possible opportunities for thousands of Pakistanis looking for jobs, business, and tourism in the Gulf state.

Especially, Kuwait aims to hire around 1,200 nurses from Pakistan for its medical sector, with the first contingent predictable to leave soon.

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis’ focal person has admired Kuwait’s decision, highlighting that the resumption of the Kuwait visas ban will create ample opportunities for employment, trade, and tourism.

The focal person demonstrated that Pakistani citizens will no longer face the prolonged time for Kuwaiti visas; applicants may obtain them through an online platform.

He also expressed hopefulness that after the ‘Kuwait visas ban lifted’, the enlarged employment opportunities in Kuwait would help Pakistan boost in national economy with valuable foreign exchange remittances.

It is important that Kuwait froze visa issuance to passport holders from Pakistan, Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan in 2011, highlighting security concerns.

Since then, both the Kuwaiti government and Pakistan have been negotiating periodically to address the concerns, lifting the visa restrictions.

According to the recent data from the European Commission, some countries have meaningfully high Schengen visa rejection rates, making it tough for applicants to get approval.

In 2024, over 11.7 million visa applications were sent to Schengen countries, and 14.8% of them were rejected.

If you want to increase your chances of getting a Schengen visa, you are advised not to apply to countries having the highest rejection rates.