Kuwait · Business & founder
Long-Term Investor Residency (Decree-Law 114/2024)
This is a new framework, only weeks old. Amiri Decree-Law No. 114 of 2024, issued 28 November 2024, repealed the 1959 Foreigners' Residency Law outright. Executive Regulations followed via Ministerial Resolution 2249/2025, in force 23 December 2025. Cabinet Resolution No. 651 of 2026, published in the Official Gazette on 14 June 2026, opened the 15-year investor route. There is no track record yet and no published approvals.
This is not an investment-migration programme. It is an executive-mobility annex to a corporate FDI licence. Residency here is a by-product of running a licensed KWD 5m business with Kuwaiti payroll obligations. At roughly USD 16.3m, the threshold runs around 47 times Bahrain's, and there is no passive route at any price. For a family simply seeking residency, Kuwait remains a non-option.
Qualifying routes
The minimum investment is 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 account. The investor must set up a company or branch in Kuwait for direct investment under Law 116/2013, holding a valid KDIPA investment licence. The business needs active operations and a minimum level of Kuwaiti-national employment. Residency runs for up to 15 years.
Up to 10 years, in theory. Law 74/1979 restricts real estate ownership to Kuwaiti citizens, so in practice this route is close to a dead letter for foreign individuals.
The facts
- Minimum investment
- $5M
- Total landed cost
- KWD 5m investment, plus KWD 1m paid-up capital on deposit, plus Kuwaiti payroll obligations. Residency fees run KWD 10–500 by category.
- Route type
- Business & founder
- Timeline
- 1–6 months (KDIPA decides within 5 working days of receiving a complete application. The real timeline is how long it takes to assemble that complete KDIPA licence application.)
- Physical presence
- Ordinary residents may not stay outside Kuwait for more than 6 months. Investors, property owners and children of Kuwaiti women are exempt.
- Family
- Immediate family of owners, partners, directors and KDIPA-approved senior management
- Permanent residency
- There is no path to permanent residency. Residency runs for up to 15 years, renewable, and stays tied to the licensed entity.
- Citizenship
- There is no path to citizenship. Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026 amended the nationality law to reinforce state authority over granting, withdrawing and revoking citizenship.
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted. You would have to renounce.
- Requirements
- a valid KDIPA investment licence under Law 116/2013a minimum investment value of KWD 5mKWD 1m in paid-up capital held in a Kuwaiti bankactive operationsa minimum level of Kuwaiti-national employmenta clean criminal record
- It takes USD 16.3m in investment, a KWD 1m bank deposit, hiring in Kuwait and active operations on the ground. There is no passive path at any price.
- The 10-year property-owner residency route runs straight into Law 74/1979, which limits real estate ownership to Kuwaiti citizens. GCC nationals are treated as Kuwaitis. Non-Kuwaiti Arabs may own one property. Foreigners are capped at 1,000 m² and subject to income tests. Decree-Law 7/2025 opened ownership to KDIPA-licensed entities, Boursa Kuwait-listed companies and licensed funds, but only for operational purposes or employee housing. It imposes a categorical prohibition on owning or dealing in real estate designated for private housing. In short, the 2025 reforms opened the door for corporates, not families. Do not build a plan on this route.
- Kuwait's citizenship environment is actively shrinking, with mass revocations underway. Decree-Law 52/2026 Article 11 bis requires a naturalised Kuwaiti who holds another nationality to renounce it within 3 months and prove the renunciation. Fail to do so, and Kuwaiti nationality is null and void. This is the least stable status environment in the GCC, and the direction of travel is restrictive.
- The framework is only weeks old. It has no track record and no published approvals.
- The 6-month absence cap applies to ordinary residents. For anyone who travels often, that is a real constraint.