Kuwait mulls resuming family, tourism visas

The move will be taken on economic, humanitarian grounds, sources say

Reissuance of family and tourism visas for expats’ children and spouses will contribute to boosting economic activities.

Kuwait is studying the possible reopening of family and tourism trips to the country in March after a suspension of more than a year due to the new coronavirus-related travel restrictions, a local newspaper has reported.

The Interior Ministry is awaiting a report from the Health Ministry on the extent of the pandemic stabilisation situation in Kuwait to take a decision allowing reissuance of such visas amid a recent decline in virus infections and numbers of ICU patients in the country and overcoming a wave of the Omicron variant of the disease, Al Qabas said, citing security sources.

“Despite the Council of Ministers’ decision to issue all types of visas to expatriates, visas of family and tourism visits are still on hold,” the sources added.

Reissuance of family and tourism visas for expatriates’ children and spouses will contribute to boosting economic activities and is based on humanitarian grounds because it will help in reunion of some families whose members are residing in the country as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan association with family gatherings approaches, they added.

Ramadan starts this year in April. Foreigners make up nearly 3.5 million of Kuwait’s overall population of around 4.6 million.

Qatar booster shots top 1 million mark

The number of booster shots against Covid-19 administered in Qatar has exceeded the 1 million mark amid a fast-paced mass vaccination campaign in the country, official figures have shown.

The Qatari Ministry of Public Health said that 29,321 booster jabs have been administered in the past 24 hours, raising the total boosters given in the country of 2.7 million people to 1.2 million shots so far.

Around 87.2 per cent of the country’s population have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 since Qatar initiated an inoculation drive against the infectious disease in December 2020, the ministry added.

Qatar has reported a steady drop in infection rates after an earlier spike that prompted authorities to reimpose several health restrictions.

Riyadh extends validity of Moroccans’ exit visas

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has started extending validity of final exit visas for Moroccans residing in the kingdom in implementation with directives from King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.

The Saudi General Directorate of Passports has begun extending validity of such visas for Moroccan residents that expired over the period from December 12 to February 7 until February 14, it added.

The extension, issued by the finance minister, is part of the Saudi government’s efforts to tackle repercussions of Covid-19, the agency said.

The extension will be conducted automatically without the need to check with the passport departments in the kingdom or the Saudi missions abroad.

The number of the Moroccan community in Saudi Arabia is estimated at around 30,000 people, according to media reports.