KUWAIT: Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Fahd Al Youssef, issued Ministerial Resolution No. 4 of 2025 on Thursday, repealing a key provision of the 2024 law that allowed certain organisations to avoid work permit transfer fees based on manpower demand.

With the repeal of Article 2, the new rules impose a flat KD150 fee for every work visa transferred, regardless of sector or size. This includes entities previously enjoying exemptions such as government-owned firms, hospitals and health centres under the Ministry of Health, private educational institutions, foreign investors approved by the Investment Promotion Authority, sports federations, charities, labour unions, endowments, and public benefit associations.

Also impacted are licensed agricultural ventures, commercial and industrial operations, and small-scale businesses, which will now be subject to the same fee requirements.

The resolution not only standardises fee structures across Kuwait’s labour market but also eliminates the need for the Public Authority for Manpower’s Board to conduct a one-year study on the impact of the earlier law.