Vietnamese are not banned in Kuwait, clarifies ambassador

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‘MoI only suspends issuance of visa upon arrival’

KUWAIT CITY, Nov 10: “It’s not true that Kuwait has suspended the issuance of visa or banned Vietnamese citizens or workers to the country,” disclosed on Saturday Ambassador of Vietnam to Kuwait Trinh Minh Manh amid recent reports that came out on the media on Kuwait’s visa suspension for Vietnamese nationals.

The ambassador quickly clarified that only the issuance of visa upon arrival for Vietnamese nationals was suspended by the Ministry of Interior but there is no ban on Vietnamese citizens to Kuwait. Manh told the Arab Times that he had a meeting on Nov 7 with Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs of the State of Kuwait Ali Sulaiman Al-Saeed to clarify the matter.

Al-Saeed conveyed to Manh that there is no visa ban for Vietnamese nationals. “The fact is the Ministry of Interior took its own initiative before to allow citizens of some countries including Vietnam to get visa on arrival to enter Kuwait in addition to the normal way through Kuwait’s diplomatic missions in those countries. Now for a certain reason, the Ministry of Interior decided to stop this visa upon arrival policy. Vietnamese can still apply and get visa at Kuwait’s embassy in Hanoi and its Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City as usual,” explained the ambassador.

Manh pointed out that Al-Saeed informed him that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide any instruction to the Ministry of Interior to issue such a directive of suspending the visa upon arrival facility for Vietnamese nationals. “The Asian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also trying to find out why the Ministry of Interior decided to do that,” stated Manh as he highlighted the excellent bilateral relations between Kuwait and Vietnam.

By Michelle Fe Santiago Arab Times Staff

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