Kuwait City: Kuwait has advised citizens and residents against travelling abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the spread of the virus despite strict measures applied worldwide, the Health Ministry announced in a statement on Twitter.
Last month, Kuwait’s communications office said that commercial flights at Kuwait International Airport will resume from August 1, after being suspended in March because of pandemic, Kuwait Times reported.
Meanwhile, an informed source at the General Directorate for Residency Affairs said issuance of entry visas remains suspended, adding no department or service centre can issue any visit or entry visas, according to a report in Al Anbaa daily. Expats with valid residency permits were planning to return from August 1, but some of them have newborns with visit visas.
The source said those who were issued visit, family, work or newborn visas cannot currently enter the country using those visas because they have expired and there is no mechanism to renew them. It said people should wait until visa issuance resumes or a mechanism is set that allows the use of the documents they have.
As for renewing the residency permits of expats who are abroad, the source said the interior ministry’s systems accept renewal applications of their permits provided their passports are valid, for all types of residency articles: Government workers, private sector employees, dependents and those who sponsor themselves.
On Thursday, Italy banned entry to people coming from 13 countries including Kuwait that it said presented an excessive rate of Covid-19 infections.