Getting A Kuwait Driving Licence

The validity of a driving licence is linked to an expat's Residency Visa, which must have been held for two years before a driving licence can be applied for.

Conditions include age, health and fitness, traffic department managed driving tests, a university degree and a minimum montlhy salary of 600 KD.

Here is the list of exemptions to the above:

• Non-Kuwaiti wives of Kuwait men and their children

• Non- Kuwaiti widows and divorcees of Kuwaiti men and their children

• Non- Kuwaiti husbands of Kuwaiti women and their chidren

• Students registered in a Kuwait University

• Students registered in a Kuwait Applied Institute

• Bedoun holding valid security cards

Exempt from the Salary and Residency conditions are:

• housewives who have children and whose husbands already hold driving licenses

• members of diplomatic corps

• professional sport clubs’ players

• drivers

• general representatives (mandoubs)

• passport and Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor representatives who already hold valid driving licenses from their respective countries

• judges

• members of the public prosecution

• chancellors

• experts

• university and PAAET teaching staff members

• journalists

• members of the media

• doctors

• pharmacists

• engineers

• teachers

• social workers

• researchers

• translators

• librarians

• imams working for the government

• sports trainers

• private drivers who have been working for a minimum five years for the same sponsor (provided they change their profession to ‘driver’)

• specialized technicians in the oil sector

• nurses

• physiotherapists

• other medical technicians

• pilots

• captains and their aides

• undertakers

Exempted from the Residency Visa condition are:

• general managers

• managers

• accountants

The licenses of drivers will be cancelled at the time of cancellation of their residence permit, or if there is a change in profession on which the driving license was originally issued. The individual will not be eligible to apply for driving license for at least two years after this.

Procedures for converting a UK licence to a Kuwaiti driving licence

Here we take a look at the procedure to get a Kuwait driving licence for UK citizens- please check with the embassy of your country if you are not from the UK on the procedure to follow to convert your licence.

This is the latest information from the UK Embassy in Kuwait

Legalising DVLA driving licences

These are the steps to be followed for starting the process of transferring your DVLA driving licence to a local Kuwaiti one:

• Take your driving licence (card and counterpart (paper)) to a solicitor for attestation in the UK (please see the information below).

• Send the attested copies to the FCO legalisation office in Milton Keynes (see how to get a document legalised ).

• Once legalised by the FCO, take your documents to the Kuwaiti Embassy in London for legalisation.

• Once back in Kuwait, translate your documents and take the translations to the Ministry of Justice of Kuwait for attestation.

• Finally, take your documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait for a final legalisation.

• If you are currently in Kuwait on a visitor visa, you may drive using your UK or international or any other valid licence. However, once you have obtained your residency and have your civil ID card, it is illegal to drive without a valid Kuwait driver’s licence. Doing so may result in incurring fines and possibly even detention and/or deportation.

There are organisations that can arrange legalisations for you in the UK.

You can visit the page with all this information on the British Embassy Kuwait's website>>