Kuwait has introduced residency permits of up to 10 years for some people who lost Kuwaiti citizenship, giving them a legal way to remain in the country as foreign residents.
- Kuwait has introduced 10-year residency permits for people who lost Kuwaiti citizenship, giving them legal status as foreign residents.
- The new permits, set under Ministerial Decision No. 1410 of 2026, require applicants to have another nationality and do not restore citizenship.
- Changes also include revised rules on how long foreign residents and domestic workers can remain outside Kuwait, with stricter four-month limits for domestic workers.
- For African workers, the most direct impact is the revised residency environment, especially new limits on overseas absences, rather than the 10-year permit itself.
The changes were introduced under Ministerial Decision No. 1410 of 2026, issued by First Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Fahad Yousef Saud Al-Sabah and published in the official gazette, Kuwait Al Youm.
Under the new Article 7 bis, people stripped of Kuwaiti citizenship under Clause 4 of Article 13 of the 1959 Nationality Law may qualify, including naturalised Kuwaitis affected for reasons such as conduct deemed harmful to the country’s economic or social order.
The provision also covers dependants who acquired citizenship through them and were included in the withdrawal decree. To qualify, applicants must have returned to their original nationality or obtained another one.
Importantly, the measure does not restore Kuwaiti citizenship or reverse the withdrawal decision, but instead gives affected people a separate legal status to remain in the country.
New fees and residency rules
The new status also comes with a separate fee structure, exempting Article 7 bis residents from annual residency fees while charging spouses, children and parents 10 Kuwaiti dinars (about $32) per person annually and other relatives 300 dinars (about $970).
The same 10-dinar fee applies to immediate family members of Gulf nationals whose Kuwaiti citizenship was withdrawn and who returned to their original nationality.
Beyond fees, Kuwait has also revised rules on how long foreign residents can stay abroad. Most are limited to six months, although Article 7 bis residents, some foreign children of Kuwaiti women, property owners and qualifying investors are exempt.
Domestic workers face a stricter four-month limit and risk losing their residency rights if they stay away longer without prior approval.
Wider significance for Africa
The wider residency changes also matter to African countries because Kuwait depends heavily on foreign labour.
Kuwait remains one of the Gulf’s wealthiest oil-producing economies, with the world’s highest-valued currency by unit value and tax-free salaries that have helped attract migrant workers.
Oil still dominates the economy despite government efforts to diversify, while foreign workers remain central to sectors ranging from domestic service to construction and services.
By June 2026, Kuwait had 5.31 million residents, including 3.74 million expatriates. Foreign workers numbered about 2.8 million, or roughly three-quarters of the workforce, including about 883,300 domestic workers.
Africans form an important part of that labour pool, with Egyptians ranking as Kuwait’s second-largest expatriate community after Indians at about 670,000 residents and accounting for 14.6% of the workforce.
Beyond Egypt, Ethiopia remains an important source of workers, especially in domestic service, while people from Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries have also travelled to Kuwait for work.
However, Kuwait tightened domestic-worker recruitment rules in 2026, allowing recruitment from countries including Ethiopia, South Africa and Benin while restricting Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda.
Even with those labour links, the 10-year permit is not a new long-term visa for African workers generally. It mainly applies to people who lost Kuwaiti citizenship and now hold another nationality.
For African migrant workers, therefore, the more direct impact lies in the wider residency reforms, particularly the four-month overseas absence limit for domestic workers.
