Kuwait Grants Its First 15-Year Golden Residency, to Lulu Group Chairman Yusuff Ali M.A.

On 14 July 2026, Kuwait issued its first Golden Residency, the investor residency valid for up to 15 years, when First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah presented the permit to Yusuff Ali M.A., chairman of Lulu Group International. It is the first grant under the framework WEFAQ reported on 18 June 2026 (Cabinet Resolution No. 651 of 2026), and comes days after the scheme opened for applications on 8 July 2026.

The scheme, adopted under Law No. 116 of 2013 on the Promotion of Direct Investment, allows the Ministry of Interior's General Directorate of Residency Affairs to grant residency of up to 15 years on referral from the Kuwait Direct Investment Promotion Authority (KDIPA). It is open to owners, partners and KDIPA-approved senior managers of qualifying investment entities, together with their immediate families, where the total investment is at least KD 5 million and the entity's capital at least KD 1 million. The Ministry said the framework was developed with KDIPA and the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) around standards aligned with international best practice.

The first issuance is a statement of intent as much as an administrative step: it moves the programme from text to practice within days of launch, and does so with a prominent regional investor. The government framed the initiative as part of its drive to attract high-quality capital and to position Kuwait as a competitive investment hub, bringing it into line with GCC peers that use long-term “golden” residency to compete for investors and their families.

WEFAQ's view: With the first permit issued, attention turns to execution — how quickly KDIPA clears complete files against the Resolution's five-working-day target, how the KD 5 million investment and KD 1 million capital tests are evidenced, and how the licensing and residency tracks are sequenced. Investors weighing Kuwait should run both workstreams together and assemble KDIPA-ready documentation now, while the programme is new and the authorities are actively championing it.