Kuwait · Business & founder
Long-Term Investor Residency (Decree-Law 114/2024)
New framework, 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 Amiri Decree-Law No. 114 of 2024 (issued 28 November 2024) repealed the 1959 Foreigners' Residency Law outright.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. No track record and no published approvals.
This is not an investment-migration programme. It is an executive-mobility annex to a corporate FDI licence — residency is a by-product of running a licensed KWD 5m business with Kuwaiti payroll obligations. At roughly USD 16.3m it is around 47 times Bahrain's threshold with no passive route at any price. For a family seeking residency, Kuwait remains a non-option.
Qualifying routes
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 account. Must be a company or branch established in Kuwait for direct investment under Law 116/2013 holding a valid KDIPA investment licence, with active operations and minimum Kuwaiti-national employment. Up to 15 years.
Up to 10 years — but see watch-outs: Law 74/1979 restricts real estate ownership to Kuwaiti citizens, so this 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 KWD 10–500 by category
- Timeline
- 1–6 months — KDIPA decides within 5 working days of a complete application, but assembling a complete KDIPA licence application is the real timeline
- Physical presence
- Ordinary residents may not remain outside Kuwait more than 6 months; investors, property owners and children of Kuwaiti women are exempted
- Family
- immediate family of owners, partners, directors and KDIPA-approved senior management
- Permanent residency
- None — up to 15 years, renewable, tied to the licensed entity
- Citizenship
- None. Decree-Law No. 52 of 2026 amended the nationality law to reinforce state authority over granting, withdrawal and revocation.
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- valid KDIPA investment licence under Law 116/2013KWD 5m minimum investment valueKWD 1m paid-up capital in a Kuwaiti bankactive operationsminimum Kuwaiti-national employmentclean criminal record
- USD 16.3m plus a KWD 1m bank deposit plus Kuwaiti hiring plus active operations. There is no passive path at any price.
- The 10-year property-owner residency collides with Law 74/1979, which restricts real estate ownership to Kuwaiti citizens (GCC nationals treated as Kuwaitis; non-Kuwaiti Arabs may own one property; foreigners capped at 1,000 m² subject to income tests). Decree-Law 7/2025 opened ownership to KDIPA-licensed entities, Boursa Kuwait-listed companies and licensed funds — for operational purposes or employee housing only — while imposing a categorical prohibition on owning or dealing in real estate designated for private housing. The 2025 reforms opened the door for corporates, not families. Do not build a plan on this route.
- Kuwait's citizenship environment is actively contractionary, with mass revocations. Decree-Law 52/2026 Article 11 bis requires a naturalised Kuwaiti holding another nationality to renounce it within 3 months and prove renunciation, failing which 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 weeks old with no track record and no published approvals.
- The 6-month absence cap applies to ordinary residents — a genuine constraint for the mobile.