The Kuwaiti government announced new rules for foreigners leaving Kuwait for any reason, including traffic tickets and violations, Arabian Business reported last week.

Expats will be required to settle all such fins before they can depart.

According to a statement by Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior, the new travel rules will come into effect immediately, a post on the ministry’s official X account, in Arabic, indicated.

“The Ministry of Interior announces that it will take the necessary measures to collect the outstanding debts due to the ministry of interior based on the decree number (17/1959) for expatriates residence law and decree number (67/1976) regarding traffic.

“It is a must for every foreigner that wants to leave the country, whatever the reason, for leaving is to pay the traffic violations registered under his name in the systems of the Ministry of Interior.

“This can be done through the Sahel application or by the electronic portal of the Ministry of Interior or one of the departments of the General Traffic Department in the Governates in addition to the traffic collection offices at the land and sea ports and Kuwait International Airport.”

No exceptions on new rules for foreigners leaving Kuwait

The Ministry highlighted that fines must be paid in full regardless of the reason for leaving the country.

Several user-friendly methods were set up to facilitate the payment of fines, including:

• The Sahel mobile app
• Ministry of Interior web portal
• Traffic collection offices at Kuwait International Airport and sea ports
• General traffic departments