21/12/2025
Kuwait Issues New Executive Regulations on Health Insurance for Foreigners, Effective December 23..
The Minister of Health, Dr. Ahmad Al-Awadhi, has issued the Executive Regulations of Law No. 1 of 1999 and its amendments concerning health insurance for foreigners, which mandate health coverage or health insurance for residency permits and visit visas and define the applicable fees, with implementation set to begin on 23 December 2025, The regulations set a fee of KD5 for eight types of entry visas for residency purposes, including government and private sector employment, commercial or industrial activity, family reunification, study, foreign investment, temporary government contracts, and temporary work in the oil sector. Visit visa fees are applied in accordance with the private sector health insurance system for nine categories, including government, business, family, private, medical, multiple-entry, tourism, sports, and cultural or social visits, while a fee of KD5 also applies to transit visas, transport drivers’ visas, emergency visas, and newly introduced visas. Health guarantee fees for residency are set at KD100 for ten categories, including government and private sector employees, foreign partners and investors, foreign students, self-sponsored foreigners, property owners, certain categories of previously illegal residents and military retirees, families of foreign martyrs, religious clerics, and newly introduced residency types, with a reduced fee of KD10 for certain private sector workers such as agricultural laborers, fishermen, herders, and dairy company workers. The regulations exempt domestic workers for Kuwaiti families from fees for the first three workers, charging KD10 for the fourth and above, and set a fee of KD100 for joining a sponsor across various residency categories, including spouses and dependents, subject to detailed classifications. They also provide exemptions for nine groups, including foreign women married to Kuwaitis, widows or divorcees with children, foreign children and parents of Kuwaiti citizens, children of Kuwaiti women from foreign husbands, up to three domestic workers for Kuwaiti families, diplomatic missions, certain illegal residents, and foreign newborns for up to four months. Additional provisions clarify that exemptions apply only to holders of the specified residency articles, that health guarantee validity is linked to the entry visa and residency issued by the Ministry of Interior rather than passport validity, and that fees will be waived if residency is reissued due to an official error after payment. #الكويت
source: Ayman Mat
