The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait, Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the European Union Council President, Charles Michel, met on Sunday and discussed schemes that can be applied to Kuwaiti citizens applying for Schengen visas.
During the meeting that took place in Rome following the International Conference on Development and Migration, Minister Al-Sabah took the chance to address the current requirements that citizens of Kuwait have to go through.
Moreover, he also expressed his country’s interest in improving cooperation in different fields while at the same time keeping the focus on travel to the bloc.
The authorities of Kuwait have, for some time now, been calling on the EU to facilitate the Schengen visa issuing rules for all its citizens.
Earlier in June, the Foreign Minister of Kuwait said that citizens of the country should no longer be subject to complex rules when applying for Schengen visas.
Additionally, the Minister also called on the Schengen counties to increase the number of available appointment slots and to accelerate the processing time so more of its citizens get to travel to the Schengen Area.
“The minister called upon the diplomats to act to ease off difficulties facing the Kuwaiti nationals seeking the Schengen visa, facilitate procedures to apply for the visa, set more dates, and speed up paperwork,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait said last month.
In addition to requiring the visa rules to be facilitated, the Minister also required that citizens of Kuwait get issued Schengen visas with longer validity so they do not have to follow the procedures every six months or every year when planning to reach the bloc.
He suggested that the visas get issued for several years and pointed out that it is important that the procedures get facilitated as much as possible.
Currently, all citizens of Kuwait are required to apply for a Schengen visa when planning to reach the area, regardless of the purpose of their trip.
When applying for a Schengen visa, Kuwaiti citizens must submit the completed and signed visa application form, two photos that have been taken recently, and their passports.
Moreover, they must also submit proof of having booked accommodation, proof of having purchased travel health insurance, proof of enough financial means, and a roundtrip flight itinerary, among others.
