UK ETA for Kuwaiti Citizens

Do Kuwaiti Citizens Need a UK ETA?

An ETA is permission to travel to the UK. It is not permission to enter. A traveller who holds one still speaks to a Border Force officer on arrival, who decides whether to grant entry and for how long. Keeping those two ideas apart clears up most confusion about what the approval does.

The table below shows how the rule plays out in common situations. Circumstances differ, so treat it as a starting point and check your own documents before you book.

Kuwait and the 22 February 2024 Start Date

Kuwait appears in the ETA National List under paragraph 1.1(b), for travel to the UK on or after 22 February 2024. Read that date carefully. It is the date from which the requirement applies to a journey, which is not the same as the date on which applications opened. Many Kuwaiti travellers remember the earlier application window and assume the two are identical.

Because the list is organised by travel date, a Kuwaiti passport holder planning a trip now is in the position the rules describe for that group. Earlier travel is outside the current requirement, but it does not change how you should prepare for a trip you plan today.

We checked the date against the Immigration Rules text on the official list. If you read a different date in a forum post, a news article or an older summary, check the list itself before relying on it.

How the ETA National List Is Grouped

The National List is divided into four dated groups. Each group is tied to a travel date, and each nationality sits in exactly one group. The groups matter because the same passport can be treated differently before and after a group date.

• Group (a): travel from 15 November 2023, with Qatar alone.
• Group (b): travel from 22 February 2024, with Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
• Group (c): travel from 8 January 2025, covering a long list of non-visa nationalities outside Europe.
• Group (d): travel from 2 April 2025, covering European nationalities.

Kuwait’s group is the second one. Its neighbours in that group share the same start date, but the rules that apply to each passport still follow that passport’s own nationality, so do not borrow another country’s position. For the Gulf neighbours, see our guides for UAE citizens, Saudi citizens and Qatari citizens.

When Applications Opened for Kuwaiti Citizens

The Immigration Rules state that the application process opened on 1 February 2024 for nationals in the second group, ahead of the travel date of 22 February 2024. The window was short, and it set the pattern for later groups: the application window opens before the travel requirement starts.

For a Kuwaiti traveller today, the practical point is simpler. The window question is settled, and the question that matters is whether your current approval, if you have one, is still within its two years and linked to a passport you still hold. The sections below explain both checks.

An approval granted in early 2024 reached the end of its two-year period in early 2026, whatever the expiry date of the passport. Kuwaiti travellers who hold an old approval should not assume it is usable. Look at the grant date, the passport it names, and the expiry date printed in the passport, and apply again if the approval has ended or the passport has changed.

Your Kuwaiti Passport and the ETA

The ETA rules are built around the passport. The applicant must provide a national passport that satisfactorily establishes identity and nationality as a national included on the list. An application made without that passport is invalid and must be rejected, so the first thing to check is that you have a current Kuwaiti passport in your own name.

The approval is then tied to the passport named in the application. The Immigration Rules say an ETA is valid and confers permission to travel only where the holder travels using the passport specified in the application. This is the single most important point for Kuwaiti travellers who hold more than one passport or who have recently renewed. A later passport does not inherit the approval.

Copy the name and number from the passport exactly as printed, and use the Latin-script details on the biodata page. Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior describes its electronic passport as carrying personal data in both Arabic and English, so the English entries are the ones to copy onto the application form.

The facial image on the application must meet the photo rules in the application process. Photographs taken for an earlier passport are not automatically suitable, so check the image before you submit.

Civil ID Card Versus Passport

Kuwaiti residents carry a Civil ID card, which is the main domestic identity document. It is essential for many things at home, including passport work. The Ministry of Interior’s passport pages ask applicants to attend a service centre with their original Civil ID card, and they link the centre to the address printed on that card. None of that makes the Civil ID card an ETA document.

The border point is related. UK border guidance on eGates says that travellers with ID cards cannot use the eGates, so the passport is the document to present for the UK journey. Keep the Civil ID card at home as your domestic identity document.

If your Civil ID card is lost or has expired, deal with that through the Kuwaiti authorities before you travel, so that your passport is in order and your records are up to date.

Kuwaiti Electronic Passports

The Ministry of Interior describes three types of Kuwaiti electronic passport, ordinary, diplomatic and private, which are distinguished by the colour of the cover. The ministry says the passports follow International Civil Aviation Organization recommendations, have 64 pages, and share similar inside pages across the three types, with some differences in text and colour.

The chip in the passport stores the personal data and the biometric information of the holder, and the ministry states that the passport carries the holder’s fingerprint and signature. Those facts matter for the eGate question below, because UK eGates check the biometric chip in a passport that carries the biometric symbol on its cover.

The ministry’s issuance rules ask applicants aged 12 and over to provide fingerprints and a signature at the service centre. Under 10, a signature is not required. Under 12, fingerprints are not required. These are the ministry’s requirements, and they apply when a passport is issued or renewed, not when you travel.

The ministry’s current travel-document page describes passports issued for five years and for ten years. The page does not give a validity figure for every case, so do not rely on a number from memory. Check the expiry date printed on your own passport, because the ETA ends with that passport if it expires first.

Who Does Not Need an ETA

The caseworker guidance lists the groups who do not need an ETA. Some of them apply to Kuwaiti passport holders in practice, and it is worth checking each one against your own status:

• British citizens and Irish citizens, subject to the narrow exceptions the guidance explains.
• A British Overseas Territory Citizen travelling on a British Overseas Territory passport.
• A British National (Overseas), who does not require an ETA under the Immigration Rules.
• A person who already holds entry clearance, or permission to enter or stay in the UK, including those who are settled.
• A person who is exempt from immigration control.
• An ETA-eligible traveller passing through the UK airside, under the temporary transit exemption described below.
• A third-country national lawfully resident in the Republic of Ireland who travels to the UK from elsewhere in the Common Travel Area.

The exemption for existing permission is the one that most often matters. If your current UK visa or status covers the trip, you do not need a separate ETA for it. Check the visa conditions, the expiry date, and the purpose before relying on the exemption.

Earlier UK Status and Refusals

Your immigration history can affect an ETA application even when you otherwise meet the basic requirements. The suitability rules in the Immigration Rules set out grounds on which an application must be refused, and they can apply to earlier visits as well as to the current trip.

The main grounds for Kuwaiti travellers to check are these. An overstay after the age of 18 can lead to refusal, unless one of the exceptions in the rules applies, such as a short voluntary departure within the periods the rules set out, or a record that permission was later granted with knowledge of the overstay. The same is true of an earlier breach of a condition, or illegal entry. An ETA must also be refused where a previous ETA was cancelled under the cancellation rules, unless permission was later granted with knowledge of the cancellation.

A previous refusal of entry clearance, permission to enter or permission to stay under the Visitor rules can also block a new ETA, unless a valid approval was held afterwards or the Home Office holds a record that the earlier refusal was overtaken. A criminal conviction with a custodial or suspended sentence of 12 months or more is another refusal ground. Anything that involves false information or a failure to disclose relevant facts must be addressed honestly and before you apply.

If any of this applies to you, read our guide to refused or rejected applications before submitting a new one.

ETA Validity and Replacement Passports

An ETA is valid for two years from the date of grant, or until the passport used in the application expires, whichever is sooner. An ETA granted to a holder with a passport due to expire in six months will therefore end in six months, even though it was approved for longer. This is the reason many travellers are surprised by their approval’s end date.

Inside that period, the holder may make multiple journeys to the UK as a Visitor, each for up to six months. The ETA does not need to be reapplied for each trip while it remains valid and linked to the same passport.

When a Kuwaiti passport is replaced, the approval does not move. The ETA is valid only for the passport specified in the application, so the new booklet needs its own position checked. Read our guide on validity, multiple trips and new passports for the practical steps.

Dual Nationals

Many Kuwaiti travellers hold a second nationality. The position depends on which passport you travel on, and that choice has to be made before you apply.

• Kuwaiti and British, or Kuwaiti and Irish: British and Irish citizens do not need an ETA. Travel on the British or Irish passport and carry the documents that prove that citizenship. Do not use a Kuwaiti ETA for a trip on a British or Irish passport.
• Kuwaiti and another ETA-listed nationality: apply on the passport you will use for the journey. The approval is tied to that passport and cannot be transferred to the other one.
• Kuwaiti and a visa-required nationality: the ETA is not the route for the visa-required passport. Check the visa position for that passport separately.

Our fuller explanation of which passport to use is in the dual citizens article. The short rule is that the passport you travel on is the one that counts.

Children and Families

Each traveller must get their own ETA, including children and babies. A parent can make the application for a child, but the approval belongs to the child and is linked to the child’s own passport. A parent’s approval does not cover a child, and a child’s approval does not cover a parent.

Families travelling together should check each person separately. An adult with a valid approval, a child with an approval on a different passport, and a sibling who does not need one can all be on the same booking. The rule is per person, not per family, so do not assume one approval covers the group.

The border can ask about the relationship between an adult and a child who has a different surname, or who is travelling without one of their parents. Officers may ask a few questions to establish the relationship. Carrying evidence helps: a birth or adoption certificate, a marriage or divorce certificate where the surnames differ, or a signed letter from a parent who is not travelling. Our children and families article covers the practical details.

Children aged 8 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult to use an eGate, and they must be at least 120cm tall. Those are the same conditions that apply to every eGate user, but they matter most for families planning how they will move through border control together.

What an ETA Allows

An ETA allows a Kuwaiti passport holder to travel to the UK as a Visitor for up to six months on each occasion, if the visit fits the Visitor rules. It also allows travel as a Creative Worker under the relevant paragraph of the Immigration Rules, which applies only to the narrow category that paragraph describes.

Within the Visitor rules, the common purposes are tourism, visiting family and friends, attending meetings and conferences, and certain other short activities. The permitted-activity lists are long, and some activities that look harmless are restricted. For detail, read our pages on tourism, family and friends visits, business visits, short-term study and permitted paid engagements.

• Holidays, sightseeing and visiting friends or relatives, for up to six months per visit.
• Attending meetings, conferences and interviews, where the activity fits the Visitor rules.
• Short courses and certain limited study that the Visitor rules allow.
• Multiple journeys while the ETA remains valid and linked to the same passport.

What an ETA Does Not Allow

An ETA is not a work permit, a student visa or a route to settlement. It does not extend a visit beyond the Visitor rules, and it does not cover an activity that the Visitor rules restrict. A Kuwaiti passport holder planning to work, to study for longer than the Visitor rules allow, or to live in the UK should check the visa route before relying on an ETA.

The ETA also does not guarantee entry. A Border Force officer can refuse entry where the purpose, the stay or the documents do not meet the rules, even when the approval is valid.

Frequent Trips

The ETA allows multiple journeys during its validity, and each visit may last up to six months. That is a permission to seek entry, not a promise of entry each time. Officers look at the reason for each visit and at how often you travel, and they can ask questions about your plans if your pattern raises questions.

Frequent travel is not a breach of the ETA. It can, however, be the reason a border officer takes more time, or grants a shorter period of permission. Keep records of the purpose of each trip, the accommodation, and the return arrangements. Our article on repeat visits explains how this works in practice.

Transit and Connecting Flights

Transit has two forms. Airside transit means you do not pass through UK border control before you leave on your onward journey. Landside transit means you do pass through UK border control, come back through it, and leave the UK within a short time, usually about 24 hours.

The caseworker guidance treats the two differently for ETA-eligible nationals. Airside transit is temporarily exempt from the ETA requirement. Landside transit still requires an ETA, because the traveller passes UK border control. The guidance says the airside exemption is temporary and will be kept under review, so check the current position before you book.

We do not list airlines, routes or connection times, because those change and vary by carrier. Our transit and layover guide explains the airside and landside rules in more detail, and our ferry, rail and cruise article covers other ways of arriving.

Ireland and Northern Ireland

The Common Travel Area covers the UK, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands for the purposes of free movement between them. The ETA requirement still applies to Kuwaiti passport holders who travel to the UK from within the Common Travel Area, unless the Irish residence exemption applies.

The exemption is narrow. Under the Immigration Rules, a third-country national who is lawfully resident in the Republic of Ireland, and who travels to the UK from elsewhere in the Common Travel Area, does not need an ETA. A person is lawfully resident if they are resident in Ireland and entitled to reside there under the relevant rules, and not if they cannot leave Ireland without an Irish minister’s consent. Anyone aged 16 or over must be ready to prove residence if asked.

A Kuwaiti visitor who travels from Ireland to the UK, including to Northern Ireland, without Irish residence does not benefit from that exemption, and the ETA rules still apply to the trip. Read our Ireland, Common Travel Area and Northern Ireland guide for the practical steps.

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man

Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man set their own arrival arrangements. The Immigration Rules for the UK do not set out island-specific dates, so this guide does not state an island date or an island scheme as settled fact.

We tried to check the island government websites during this review and could not complete the check. Before you travel to an island from Kuwait, confirm the position directly with the island authority, and do not rely on a general statement that an ETA covers all of the British Islands.

Arriving at the UK Border

On arrival, you need permission to enter, and that is decided by the Border Force officer. An ETA holder normally goes through border control, either at an eGate or with an officer. The officer may ask about your purpose, where you will stay, how long you intend to stay and how you will leave.

• Keep your passport with you, not in your luggage.
• Have the passport open at the photo page when you reach the officer.
• Remove hats, sunglasses and headphones, and put your phone away when asked.
• Stay together as a family and keep documents that explain your visit.
• Answer questions honestly and briefly, and bring evidence of your plans.

Border Force may ask you to wait for extra checks on travel documents, nationality, identity or your relationship with the people you travel with. Those checks are normal and do not mean a decision has been made against you. Our border control and eGates guide covers what to carry and how the arrival process works.

eGates and Registered Traveller

The UK eGates are automatic passport gates. The guidance says you can normally use them if your passport has a biometric symbol on the cover, you are 8 or over, at least 120cm tall, and hold a valid immigration status such as a valid ETA, and you are one of the listed nationalities or a Registered Traveller member.

The listed nationalities for ETA holders are EU nationals, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States. Kuwait is not on that list. For a Kuwaiti passport holder with an ETA, the position is therefore conservative. Plan for the staffed passport lanes, and do not expect eGate access on the basis of the ETA alone.

Registered Traveller is a separate membership service with its own eligible-passport list. Kuwait does not appear on that list, so Kuwaiti passport holders should not plan a trip around it.

The contactless eGate service is currently open to British citizens on a British passport, with a rollout to other eGate-eligible nationalities expected later. It does not change the position for Kuwaiti passport holders today. Those travelling with ID cards also cannot use the eGates, so the passport is the right document to present. Read our eGate article for more detail on what to expect.

Requirements for Kuwaiti Citizens

The ETA application must meet the validity requirements in the Immigration Rules. For a Kuwaiti passport holder, the main requirements are these:

• A national Kuwaiti passport that establishes your identity and nationality.
• An email address the Home Office can use to contact you.
• The required fee, paid through the application process.
• A facial image that meets the photo rules in the application process.
• A purpose that fits the Visitor rules, or the Creative Worker paragraph where it applies.
• Nationality on the ETA National List, which Kuwait is.

Those requirements are checked on the application and then by the decision-maker, who can also refuse on suitability grounds. Keep the reasons from the previous section in mind, and use our requirements page for the list of documents and details to prepare.

How to Apply from Kuwait

1. 1

   Confirm the passport

   Use the national passport you will travel on. The Civil ID card is not the ETA document.

2. 2

   Check your position

   Decide whether an exemption, a valid visa or British or Irish citizenship removes the need for an ETA.

3. 3

   Check the expiry date

   Note when the passport expires, because the ETA ends with it if that comes first.

4. 4

   Copy the Latin details

   Enter the name, number and dates from the English entries on the biodata page, exactly as printed.

5. 5

   Prepare the photo

   Use the photo rules in the application process and check that the image matches the passport you will use.

6. 6

   Choose a service option

   Pick the handling option on this site that suits your travel dates.

7. 7

   Submit and keep the reference

   Save the confirmation and reference number before you close the page.

8. 8

   Watch your inbox

   Check junk folders. Do not book a flight that depends on the outcome until the decision arrives.

9. 9

   Travel on the named passport

   Present the passport named in the approval, and carry the documents for the purpose of your visit.

UKETA.sg is an independent assistance service. It is not the UK Government and it does not decide applications. Travellers can also apply for themselves through the official route, and our guide to the app and the online form explains how the two differ, including common scan problems.

Common Mistakes Kuwaiti Travellers Make

• Using a Civil ID card where the rules call for a national passport.
• Applying on an old passport after a renewal, and then travelling on the new one.
• Assuming an approval from 2024 is still valid because the passport has not expired.
• Expecting eGate access because the ETA was approved, when Kuwait is not on the eGate list.
• Believing the Irish residence exemption applies to a visitor who has no residence in Ireland.
• Treating a landside connection as airside and arriving without an ETA.
• Applying for a child with the parent’s passport, or assuming a parent’s approval covers the child.
• Ignoring the earlier refusal, overstay or cancellation grounds before applying again.

Checklist Before You Travel

• ✓Your ETA is approved and linked to the passport you will travel on.
• ✓The passport you travel on has not expired, and you have checked its expiry date against your ETA.
• ✓Your trip fits the Visitor rules and its length is within six months.
• ✓You have checked whether your connection is airside or landside.
• ✓Each child travelling with you has their own ETA where one applies.
• ✓You have evidence of your relationship with any child you travel with.
• ✓You have checked your Irish residence position if you are relying on it.
• ✓You know that a Kuwaiti passport holder should expect the staffed passport lanes.
• ✓You have confirmed any island arrangements directly with the island authority.
• ✓You have kept your approval, reference number and travel documents together.

UK ETA FAQs for Kuwaiti Citizens

Want more answers? Browse our UK ETA FAQs or contact us. You can also go back to the eligibility checker.