Manama: Kuwait’s foreign ministry has summoned the British charge d’affaires to discuss complaints filed by Kuwaitis over difficulties in obtaining entry visas to the United Kingdom.

The meeting between the Foreign Ministry Acting Undersecretary and Director of Europe Department Walid Ali Al Khubaizi and Charge d’affairs at the British embassy Jacky Perkins was part of the friendly ties between the two countries, the ministry said in a statement, Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported.

The ministry requested the British embassy to “pay attention to the important issue and to investigate the complaints, especially those related to fees and the period of the visas,” the statement said.

The ministry called for the fees to be reduced, saying it will closely follow up developments in the issue. The ministry also tasked the Kuwaiti embassy in Britain to contact the British Foreign Office over these difficulties, Kuna reported on Wednesday.

The Kuwaiti official move followed a series of complaints about “onerous fees that at times amounted to extortion.”

Social media users said that despite the efforts of the British embassy to improve visa services and the opening of a dedicated visa application centre, complaints have not ceased, Kuwaiti daily Al Watan reported.

Detailing the fees, bloggers said that five-year visas cost 312 dinars (Dh3,781) while domestic helpers’ visas were 190 dinars. However, those who want to speed up the process and receive their visas within one week must pay an extra 80 dinars for the priority service, bringing the total cost for a single visa to 392 dinars, they said.

“Such onerous fees contrast sharply with the American system where a visa costs 40 dinars and is valid for up to 10 years, and the whole process takes only two days,” they said.

Al Watan added that the social media users urged the foreign ministry to step in and look into the situation, particularly regarding the high fees and the long waiting period.

“To the Foreign Ministry Undersecretary, please have mercy on the people of Kuwait,” one blogger reportedly posted.

In November 2013, the UK Home Office said it would launch a new visa waiver scheme in 2014 to make it cheaper and easier for business travellers and tourists from Qatar, Oman, the UAE and Kuwait to visit the UK.

It said the new electronic visa waiver (EVW) would be a quick and simple alternative to a visa application and would be free of charge.

However, the system application was delayed for Kuwait amid reports there were difficulties with its application.

A British diplomat in December attributed the difficulties mainly to computer issues.

“The computer program that underpins it had some problems when we introduced it [the system] in the three other countries,” Director of Middle East and North Africa at Britain’s Foreign Office Edward Oakden told the Kuwait Times. “It relates to, in particular, how people put in their name and the spelling of their names in Arabic and English, such that when people were using it for the first time, 40 per cent of the applications were getting thrown out. We have amazing relations with Kuwait and Kuwaitis in particular who always visit the UK,” Oakden said, noting 120,000 visas were issued per year.

As the number of Kuwaitis who travel to the UK is as great as those from the UAE, Qatar and Oman combined, it is taking longer as amendments are currently being made to the software, he said.