Kuwait bans visa issuance to five nationalities

Manama: Kuwait has banned nationals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan from entering the country, local media have reported.

The ban includes suspending all tourism, visit and trade visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses, immigration sources said, quoted by Kuwaiti media on Saturday.

They attributed the blanket visa ban to the "difficult security conditions in the five countries" and to "the remarkably increasing tendency of nationals from the five countries to apply for visas to bring in relatives who faced or could face arrest by the local authorities to Kuwait."

The sources said the authorities insisted that no exception in the visa application would be tolerated, but added that the ban was temporarily and would be lifted after the security situation stabilised.

Last month, a social affairs and labour official denied reports that Kuwait was planning to impose a ban on issuing visas to nationals from the five countries.