Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) stressed that expired residency and entry visas of expats will not be extended after August 31, which is the end date of the period that the ministry granted earlier, during which all visas were automatically renewed in light of the conditions accompanying the coronavirus pandemic, Al Rai Newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily said, quoting sources, about 405,000 expats took advantage to automatically renew their residency visas until the end of this month, and roughly 260,000 expats renewed their residency visas through the MoI website.

However, there are about 145,000 expats who did not take advantage of the opportunity, and they must quickly enter the MoI website to renew their residency visas before the end of this month, otherwise they will be considered as residency visa violators and will face legal problems and financial fines.

The daily quoted sources as saying there are about 100,000 people who entered the country on visit visas, whether family, tourist or commercial. They are supposed to leave the country at the end of this month, and there is no intention to give them an extension. The MoI states that whoever violates the law will be blacklisted, and will be unable to enter the country again. The violator will have to pay fines or the sponsor will be charged.