Reports on Kuwait's not issuing visa for Iranians untrue: Envoy

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s Ambassador to Kuwait Ali-Reza Enayati announced that the reports saying that Kuwait has plans not to issue visa for the Iranian nationals are not correct.

News ID: ۷۷۳۶۹۸

05 February 2017

The diplomat made the announcement in response to some reports made by certain international media following the January 27 visa ban imposed by the new US President Donald Trump on seven Muslim countries including Iran.

The truth is that the US embassy in Kuwait City had announced that it would not issue visa for the Iranian nationals residing in Kuwait due to US president’s order, Enayati said, adding the embassy’s move does not relate to the Kuwaiti government.

In related news, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry in a statement said on Friday, “Kuwait Friday categorically denied media reports that it planned to stop issuing entry visas for some nationalities, affirming that issuance of visa was a sovereignty matter.”

The Foreign Ministry “categorically denies these claims and affirms that these reported nationalities (which he did not mention) have big communities in Kuwait and enjoy full rights,” Kuwaiti News Agency (KUNA) quoted Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs Sami al-Hamad as saying.

As KUNA reported, al-Hamad said citizens of those countries mentioned by social media visited Kuwait regularly through direct commercial flights, according to ILNA.

Businesspeople from Kuwait and those countries are bound to commercial relations, KUNA quoted him as expounding.

“The State of Kuwait believes that granting of visa is a sovereign matter, and is not linked to terrorism or violence or nationality or faith.”