By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Due to the present situation and the closure of public institutions, the ministry of interior has provided more e-services on its official website www.moi.gov.kw to allow residents to renew their visas. Recently, the ministry extended the validity of all visas that expired from March 1 onwards till May 31, 2020. This includes all kinds of visit visas and all types of residency visas.

Apart of this temporary renewal, and after May 31, expats can renew their visas as following:
For holders of article 18 visas (expat employees working in the private sector): The employer should renew the visas of its employees after registering the company at the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) and receiving a special code to complete the procedure of visa renewal online.

The mandoub should personally visit PAM to receive the code. The applicant (representative of the company who has the code) should then apply for the medical insurance of each employee online through the official website of the ministry of health www.moh.gov.kw after paying the fees.

Then the applicant should visit www.moi.gov.kw and register the company to receive a code with a username and password that will be used for all applications. The applicant then clicks on General Department for Residency's renew residency tab and enters the ID and password to complete the visa renewal process.

For holders of article 20 visas (domestic helpers): The sponsor (kafeel) should apply for the medical insurance of the domestic worker on his sponsorship online through the official website of the ministry of health www.moh.gov.kw after paying the fees. The sponsor should then register an account on www.moi.gov.kw to receive a username and password. He then clicks on General Department for Residency's renew residency tab and enters the ID and password to complete the visa renewal process of his workers.

For holders of article 22 visas (family dependents): The sponsor (husband, father, mother, son, daughter and others) should apply for the medical insurance of the family member on their sponsorship online through the official website of the ministry of health www.moh.gov.kw after paying the fees. The sponsor should then register an account on www.moi.gov.kw to receive a username and password. They then click on the General Department for Residency's renew residency tab and enter the ID and password to complete the visa renewal of the dependent.

For holders of article 24 visas (self-sponsors): It's the same procedure as visa 20 and visa 22, where the applicants does the medical insurance for himself and renews the visa for himself as well. Other visa types have not been added yet to the e-service on www.moi.gov.kw, but the three-month visa extension is available for them.