Kuwait

This route sits at the very top of the market, and it only works through an operating business. The long-term investor residency, opened by Cabinet Resolution No. 651 of 2026 (published 14 June 2026) under Amiri Decree-Law No. 114 of 2024, requires a minimum investment value of KWD 5,000,000 (roughly USD 16.3m), with paid-up capital of at least KWD 1,000,000 (roughly USD 3.26m) deposited in a Kuwaiti bank. You must run a company or branch holding a valid KDIPA investment licence under Law 116/2013, with active operations and minimum Kuwaiti-national employment, for a permit of up to 15 years. Think of this as an executive-mobility annex to a corporate FDI licence. It is not an investment-migration programme.

No passive route exists at any price. The advertised 10-year property-owner residency runs straight into Law 74/1979, which restricts real estate ownership to Kuwaiti citizens. Non-Kuwaiti Arabs may own one property, and foreigners are capped at 1,000 m² subject to income tests, so for foreign individuals this is close to a dead letter. Decree-Law 7/2025 did open ownership to KDIPA-licensed entities and listed companies, but only for operational purposes or employee housing, and it categorically prohibits ownership of property designated for private housing. In short, the 2025 reforms opened the door for corporates, not families. Do not build a plan on the property route.

Ordinary residents cannot stay outside Kuwait for more than six months. Investors, property owners and children of Kuwaiti women are exempt from that limit. So the licensed investor permit itself does not carry the six-month absence rule. That said, the whole structure assumes you are running an active KWD 5m licensed business with Kuwaiti payroll. That is its own tie to the country. The six-month cap is still a real constraint for anyone on ordinary residency rather than the investor category.

No, on both counts, and the environment is actively tightening. The residency offers no path to citizenship. Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026 amended the nationality law to strengthen state authority over granting, withdrawing and revoking citizenship. Kuwait does not allow dual citizenship. Article 11 bis of Decree-Law 52/2026 requires a naturalised Kuwaiti who holds another nationality to renounce it within three months and prove that renunciation. If they do not, the Kuwaiti nationality becomes null and void. With mass revocations under way, this is the least stable status environment in the GCC, and the direction of travel is restrictive.

No. This is only weeks old, with no track record behind it. Amiri Decree-Law No. 114 of 2024, issued on 28 November 2024, repealed the 1959 Foreigners' Residency Law outright. The Executive Regulations followed through Ministerial Resolution 2249/2025, in force 23 December 2025. The 15-year investor route only opened with Cabinet Resolution No. 651 of 2026 on 14 June 2026. There are no published approvals and no track record to assess. KDIPA is meant to decide within five working days of a complete application, but the real timeline is how long it takes to assemble a complete KDIPA licence application.

There is no personal income tax, no capital gains tax for individuals and no wealth tax. Kuwait taxes on a territorial basis and has no VAT. At company level, wholly Kuwaiti or GCC-owned companies pay no corporate income tax, but foreign-owned entities pay 15%. A 15% domestic minimum top-up tax also applies to large multinational groups from 2025. One gap: inheritance tax is not addressed in PwC's Kuwait guidance. It is believed, but not verified, to be nil, so confirm before relying on it.

Because the economics and the environment both point the wrong way. The investor threshold sits at roughly USD 16.3m, about 47 times Bahrain's, and there is no passive path at any price. Residency here is a by-product of running a licensed operating business with Kuwaiti payroll obligations. It is not something you can simply buy. On top of that, Kuwait runs a contractionary citizenship regime, with mass revocations and a dual-nationality prohibition. For a family simply seeking residency, Kuwait remains a non-option. Only those already building a licensed business in Kuwait for genuine commercial reasons should consider it.

Yes, but the eligible group is defined around the business. The residency covers the immediate family of owners, partners, directors and KDIPA-approved senior management. Family inclusion flows from a qualifying role in the licensed entity, not from a passive investment. Since the underlying requirement is a KWD 5m business with active operations and Kuwaiti hiring, family coverage is really an adjunct to corporate mobility. It is not a family-relocation product in the way the UAE or Saudi programmes are.