I recently found out the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait has a COVID-19 information page that contains answers to a lot of common questions that aren’t answered anywhere else. For example, a friend of mine was asking me about curfew passes to the airport, how does that work? If you have a flight to catch can you just show them your ticket or do you need a special pass? What if you don’t have a car, can a friend drop you off? According to the U.S. Embassy website:
How can I drive to the airport during the curfew?
It is our understanding that passengers traveling directly to the airport to depart Kuwait will be permitted to travel with their passport and a copy of their booking and/or ticket showing departure. They should allow additional time for possible stops by relevant authorities and should be wearing face masks while outside their homes.
Can a family member or friend drive me to the airport?
It is our understanding that one person can take passenger(s) directly to the airport as long as they have a copy of the ticket of the traveler. The driver should allow additional time for possible stops by relevant authorities and should be wearing a face mask while outside the home.
The page looks like it’s being updated whenever there is anything new so worth bookmarking since there is very little information out there in English and some of the info isn’t even listed anywhere else to my knowledge. So check it out here.
50 replies on “U.S. Embassy in Kuwait COVID-19 Information Page”
I hate the my embassy. I’m not going to get in to details because it would be the longest rant of my life but I just want to say as an American living here that my embassy here is a facade of an embassy that offers very little services or support to us Americans. It’s probably worse now since they recently changed ambassador from Silverman. They have not provided sufficient support to its citizens during this pandemic either.Maybe some people have a different view of them based on their personal experience, but I have not met anyone that goes there and thinks oh wow my embassy is so awesome I’m so happy and relieved they are here.
Truth. 100%
+1
Interesting, because I also agree that I am less than impressed with the US Embassy’s nonexistent services for American expats in Kuwait. It is truly lacking in any sort of engagement or leadership for its citizens residing here in Kuwait. However, having lived here for eight years, they have remained consistent in their poor performance. I don’t know of any American citizens that have been satisfied with the Embassy as a resource. It’s main priority is focused on Kuwaiti relations. I always hope for improvement but have yet to see it.
what kind of services do you guys want or expect from an embassy out of curiosity?
You’ve read the article about how that American couple are stuck here, their embassy did not help them at all, they could’ve supplied them with MREs or other military rations when the couple couldn’t get groceries, but they did nothing and told them they weren’t able to help them. Meanwhile, the couple asked the Swedish embassy for help (where it was said that they had relatives living in Sweden), and they supplied them with food every other day. This is the kind of quality service people look for in an embassy. Also, even Kuwait embassies in foreign countries provide for their citizens in need.
Those couple aren’t a good example. They couldn’t get food from a supermarket? Balaka? Delivery service? Talabat?
Come on that’s a joke. We were all caught by surprise with the lockdown and we all got shopping done. They’ve also been in Kuwait since January, the guy is a teacher at a school here so it’s not like their first weekend in Kuwait.
Embassy might help people who are struggling financially and can’t afford to buy food but not some guy who couldn’t figure out how to get food from the Bakala down the street.
You don’t really think the Embassy has food, much less MREs, just sitting around, do you? And, in the time it would take to unwind the Title 10 and Title 22 authorities ( I’ll let YOU look those up) to figure out if the DoS or DoD is helping this one-off couple, they could grow and mill their own wheat.
Again…Talabat…not an Embassy function.
Come on John. It’s difficult to choose a restaurant from the selection of 1,200 restaurants on Talabat so cut them some slack. Also, do you know how hard it is to find a bakala in this country?
I’m not sure if you are American, but the US Embassy sent out an alert email today covering some topics that seems like they were prompted by this blog.
That’s awesome! I guess you have some embassy fans !
What did they send??
The email specifically cover Nina’s issue #1 about what happens to you in Kuwait if you are infected & hospitalized with Covid. It provides MOH contact if you have symptoms. In summary it informed that Kuwait hospitals do not contact the US embassy to report hospitalization, but you can call if you want to let them know. Also, it said no visitors are allowed and that you are discharged to home quarantine after recovery is confirmed through 2 consecutive negative tests.
Email timing maybe a coincidence but seems like someone was reading the blog.
Saw it and came back to say the same thing. The most informative and direct email to date—useful and specific messaging. Whatever prompted it to be sent, I was glad to receive it!
Do they have any recipes for how to eat a WiFi router?
What would be helpful in my opinion would be:
1) Outreach to tell US citizens explaining what to expect in an event that they contracted Covid in Kuwait. Evidence that they are working to protect our rights and health in conjunction with the Kuwait medical professionals. I think at a bare minimum, keeping citizens informed of what to expect. And not leaving us all to our own devices and to fend for ourselves. I constantly struggle with the fear that should anyone in my family be impacted by this illness, how we would be managed as expats. Still waiting to see a breakdown of the Covid recovery and death timeframes for Kuwaiti citizens vs non Kuwaitis. If there were a difficult Covid situation for an American, would the Embassy be available to provide support?
2) In normal times, actual embassy sponsored events to celebrate US holidays, customs, traditions. A way to bring Americans together (which is what Embassies do in countries like China for 4th of July, etc). Currently there is absolutely no outreach to Americans. Of any kind. I wonder how many of the actual Americans that live in Kuwait have ever met or had a conversation with the Ambassador, or anyone from the Embassy. Any such requests are met with silence.
Generally, living in Kuwait seems to make people more accepting of mediocre performance, and less willing to speak out about it. Which I am surprised by—why are Americans in Kuwait so silent about our lackluster Embassy? It’s truly puzzling.
well everything you mentioned they seem to be already doing:
1) They have two pages up regarding your points,
https://kw.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
and
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
But recovery and death timelines for kuwaitis and non kuwaitis does’t make sense (why this discrimination) and these numbers are shared anyways on Kuwait’s corona website and MOH accounts
2) They do have events, I’ve been to a bunch including their yearly 4th of July party which actually takes place in May usually because of the heat. I guess we are missing it this year. I also haven’t met the current ambassador but the previous ambassador was great, super friendly and I think met a lot of people.
I think the US Embassy and the UK one are two of the most active ones. You really need to talk to people from other nationalities to appreciate your embassy.
Hi Mark, thanks for the reply.
1) with regards to the information from the US embassy. My friends and I have signed up for STEP notifications, and each one of us receives emails at different intervals and about different things. None of us can figure out how/why we are receiving the information we get/don’t get. So we just share and pass to each other.
2) Kuwait has different medical processes in place for their citizens vs expats. I’m not saying whether this is right or wrong, just that this is the way the country operates. That having been said, when policies are not the same for all, how do we know that the outcomes are the same? You would need to see those numbers.
3) With regards to all of the Embassy events that you mentioned. That’s amazing. You are the first person I know to experience those, except for people that work at the Embassy. Are you invited to those events? Are they open to the public? None of my American friends here have had such luck so this is very interesting to me. Mostly, I wish for access to the American heritage and cultural experiences for my kids..
What are the different medical processes for Kuwaitis infected with Corona and expats?
Embassy events aren’t open to the public. It’s rare that any embassies events (not just the US) are open to the public due to the size limitation of the embassies. You need to be invited by the embassy or someone at the embassy. The 4th of July event is one of their biggest and takes place outdoors and it’s always super packed.
***LINK REMOVED BY ADMIN. ONLY SHARE OFFICIAL SOURCES NOT WHATSAPP SOURCED ARTICLES***
Mark, cmon!!
“What are the different processes?”
There’s a literally a separate “Kuwaiti hospital” only built (Jaber hospital).
Not saying that’s wrong, but there are for sure different processes for the citizens and expats in every thing. Even in medical!
So they go to a different hospital, that’s not a different medical process. It’s not like they’re getting the vaccine while expats are given panadol.
The country has lost the plot.
The entire focus is on Kuwaiti vs Expat with attention and resources diverted to fixing the demographic imbalance at a time when focus should be on helping people cope with a global pandemic.
Keeping that in mind, anyone can say with certainty that the medical care extended to locals will be different compared to the expats.
Anyone who says otherwise is delusional.
From first hand knowledge of this post and many other posts, I can tell you that the outreach to US citizens is exactly the same for this type post as it is for other posts of the same size. If you sign up on the SMART travel site, you’ll get all the alerts that every US citizen in every country gets via the same system. That’s about the most you can expect from almost every other mission in the world.
For COVID response, the US Embassy defers to the host nation response. It also falls back on the CDC response for supplementary info. So, that information is already there. The Embassy doesn’t provide any medical services for its own employees in regards to interfacing with the host nation medical system. There’s one medical officer. Everyone else goes “out in town”.
There are multiple sites that provide a by-nationality case and death track. They’ve even been posted here. GTS.
I’m not sure what you’re expecting for a 4th of July celebration. Or Christmas. Or Easter. It takes a week to vet visitors into the Embassy. That’s pretty standard State Dept-wide. Do you know what it would take, Security-wise, to open up the doors to every American in Kuwait? China is a much larger mission in a completely different political environment. That’s an apples-and-oranges comparison.
Finally…you’d like to meet the Ambassador? Huh? Kinda not really what the Ambassador does. If you’d like to meet someone from the Embassy, I guess you can wait outside for someone to go home. Do you know who works in an Embassy? Or, what they do? Actually, are you aware of how few people work in the Kuwait mission? Think…fewer than a professional football team. And about half a dozen doing actual diplomatic work.
Note to other Americans coming over to be expats. Educate yourself on what the Embassy does and doesn’t do for you. There is a LOT in the latter category.
Spot on, from the comments above it seems like some people want to be spoon fed by the Embassy. Most embassies are there to assist you, not to hold your hand during a crisis.
Correct on educating yourself! It is probably a shock when US citizens discover they are liable for crimes they commit abroad and will be processed under the foreign countries legal system. The Embassy, at most, might provide a list of local English speaking legal counsel (that you would have to hire on your own dime). When you travel outside your own country you need to assume a certain level of risk. That means educate yourself on local laws, customs, and medical resources.
Hello!
Could you guys clarify, Online shops are not operating ( Xcite, iHerb etc? )
Thanks in advance!
Hello! Could you just check the Xcite website and read what’s written there? Thanks!
I’ve lived in Kuwait for over a decade and have never been to any event at the embassy. I’ve met several Kuwaitis and a few Indian friends that have enjoyed these events, but no male Americans. Guess I’m not cool enough to get an invite. The only time I go to the embassy are for passport needs (second passport, addtl pages, etc.). You schedule an appointment for 1pm, arrive at 12:30pm, and you won’t be seen until 3pm. I don’t expect much from my embassy, but I would like for them to value my time. The UK embassy used to have a holiday event(drinks included) and it was open to the public, but not advertised. You had to sign up and pay like a 2 weeks in advance for vetting, etc. Maybe I’m crazy, but 10 days to “vet” U.S. citizens to an event they can sign up to a month in advance doesn’t seem to difficult to me, especially considering 85% already work on a military installation, have clearances, and are prior military ourselves.
Are you friends with someone at the Embassy? That’s how you get invited. If you aren’t friends with someone from the Embassy, then you won’t get invited. If you ARE friends with someone, ask them to invite you. If they don’t invite you…you might want to question their level of commitment to you.
That’s how invitations work. Embassy doesn’t send out Willy Wonka tickets to random people.
Are you a representative of the Embassy? I think it should be ok for Americans to express their discontent without so much anger on the receiving end. These are real experiences. Again, I am mostly sad that my kids miss out on the cultural experiences—but my family and friends do our best to supplement on our own. I understand that having expectations for an Embassy to provide basic outreach to its community in a foreign country may seem like a lot (really?). Perhaps we should not compare this Embassy to the Embassies in London, and China, and elsewhere. But being in Kuwait does not automatically mean we should just accept subpar services because of regional constraints.
No, I’m not. I’ve just worked with a lot of our Embassies around the world. I think complaining is fine when there’s a point to it. Mostly what it sounds like is a lot of complaining about not being invited to the Embassy for parties, or some mysterious “cultural” opportunities. I think most of the complaining is based on not knowing what an Embassy does.
Trust me, this isn’t anger. This is me explaining that in every country, the Embassy serves to further the US political objectives with the host nation through diplomacy. It’s not here to serve as an expat’s oasis. And based on the STEP alerts I get from EVERY country I’m registered with, the Embassy here is doing better than most on its outreach.
So, be specific. What EXACT information do you think the Embassy has that they’re not providing. And what EXACTLY is it that you’re asking for? Because this went from a thread about Embassy info to grousing about not getting invited to drink at the Embassy.
Read my comment for my EXACT complaint. Also, not all of us want to visit the embassy to drink. Not every American drinks alcohol, myself included. While you’re on the internet, please visit diplomacy.state.gov and tell me the official PRIMARY purpose of a U.S. embassy.
From state.gov, the offical website for the State Dept, the official mission of the US State Dept:
“The U.S. Department of State leads America’s foreign policy through diplomacy, advocacy, and assistance by advancing the interests of the American people, their safety and economic prosperity.”
Sounds pretty official, eh?
There. Sorry…I’m sure the info you pulled from the State Dept Museum’s website was informative, but I went right to the source for you. THAT’S the official source for the official reason for the State Dept’s existence. Probably where you should have started your discovery learning journey.
The primary purpose of an embassy is to advance that mission. Everything else is secondary to that.
I agree with you, a foreign Embassy is there to advance their countries political and economic goals and provide services. For obvious reasons I imagine the US Embassies around the world spend a lot of their administrative resources (the bulk of their transactional work) on processing nonimmigrant and immigrant visas.
Also, most of the time, if you work on a US military installation, you fall under CENTCOM, which has restrictions against drinking, even if you get invited to the Embassy. There are a lot of contractors and US military that don’t have access to the Embassy. It’s restricted for a reason.
I was invited to the Marines Corps Birthday Ball, along with contractors and military (Air Force) and no one was told they couldn’t drink under CENTCOM rules(irrelevant as I only drink water, juice, and milk). I went om vacation, because the events they have aren’t really a big deal. Now the poor customer service is most important to me and please someone justify that for me. Comments? I’m not trying to crap on the Embassy, like I said i don’t expect much to begin with, but the service and appointment system could be much better. And Mark I’m only talking about UK Embassy events from back in the day pre-2015 when all you needed was a civil ID and no invite. Remember Last Night of the Proms, A Midsummer Nights Dream and I could name more, which didn’t require an invite whatsoever. Hell those were actually posted on blogs. I can’t speak for more recent years, so I’m sure you’re correct or maybe those were invite only and the rules weren’t enforced at all. I don’t know, but I remember them checking your civil ID and paying in advance. They didn’t publicly post alcohol would be sold of course.
Jay, I know exactly which events you’re talking about, all pre 2015. Those all required invites. Last Night of the Proms, A Midsummer Nights Dream, I went to all those, they weren’t open to the public. Good times, I remember having to sit through musicals and shakesphere plays without a phone just so we can hit the bar when we were done. smart way of getting us to watch whatever was taking place.
Here is some nostalgia for you, this is the event that broke everything lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3mxRRrQ7CY
LMAO. Thanks for the nostalgia…and that crowd!? I can see why it broke everything. Doesn’t get any better than that. Yeah I sat through some of those events just so my friends can drink while I was the DD. You are correct, that was a genius way to get people to sit through an entire musical.
So you WERE invited. Guess you’re cool after all.
I was at the same Ball. Not only was General Order 1 announced, the personnel that were there under General Order 1 knew they weren’t allowed to drink.
But, people don’t always follow rules. Not sure what to tell ya.
But, yes, agree. The US Government appointment system could certainly be improved.
One invite in 13 years. Woo hoo!! Seriously at least we can agree that the appointment system can be improved. Again, the primary purpose of the embassy is to assist American citizens who travel to or live in the host country, so I would think appointments would fall under that category.
Bro…no it’s not. That is not the official mission. To help US travelers? Are you effing kidding me? Listen to how that sounds. That’s the official mission of a travel agency. It’s A mission. They accomplish that through STEP. In an event like this, they work with the host nation to secure COMMON solutions to COMMON traveler problems. They don’t burn much energy on it.
The ONLY time that becomes the primary purpose of an Embassy is when the entire Diplomatic mission collapses and they have to evacuate.
But, yes…consular services are like the DMV. Shouldn’t be a surprise.
And one invite. Sounds like one more than Nina.
I never said that the primary mission. Read the comments. It should be assumed that people are talking about consular services, or at least that was my only complaint.The mission is lead by the Ambassador and their staff. I don’t think any American abroad expect the actual Ambassador and their staff to serve them directly, so that’s ridiculous. My last comment on this subject. Tell your coworkers at the embassy we still love you all. No hard feelings and no need to be dismissive of people’s legitimate complaints. The non-legit complaints I could care less about like buying groceries for middle class couples. Have a good day my good man.
FYI: those British embassy holiday events were NOT open to the public. They were invite only as well. Depending on the event they would allow employees to invite an X amount of people. Sometimes 2, sometimes 10, sometimes more. It got to a point where one time there were over 1,000 people at the event and caused the embassy a lot of issues to the point they eventually canceled all those events.
What is the purpose of a US embassy? Despite any State Department blurb its main mission is probably to enhance economic & political ties, then to offer visa services to non US citizens, and lastly basic services to their citizens.
Have you noticed the security level of the US embassy compared to other Embassies in Kuwait? Without that and their appointment system it would be a mad house at the US embassy. Entire families would show up for 1 family member’s visa appointment. Have you ever passed by another countries Embassy on a busy day?
While the US Embassy did not drop off groceries to that American couple, the Embassy probably does utilize their diplomatic channels to communicate issues with the KWI government that effect US citizens, while at the same time respecting KWI sovereignty.
The primary purpose of the embassy is to assist American citizens who travel to or live in the host country.
Thanks, that’s good to know!
Nope. Every time you drop that wrong info, I’ll be here to correct you. Not the primary purpose of the Embassy. Absolutely not. I don’t care what museum website you pulled that from. Embassy’s mission is to support the diplomatic mission. It’s not the rescue area for distressed travelers. Utterly ridiculous…
Dude…laughable. That was the first answer you got when you googled “purpose of a US Embassy”. I know because I just repeated it to see if that’s what you did.
That’s the purpose of the CONSULAR office in the Embassy. That’s also the purpose of a country’s consular post (for smaller countries that don’t have a fully-functioning Embassy).
Me in this comment section https://gph.is/19yQDcd
Hi, when I posted the first comment on here I did not think the direction that it was going to take was parties and how to get invited to them and what not. I speak from first hand experience and close relatives that have been constantly failed by the embassy at everything they try to do. Or any help that they have asked for.
In particular I have a relative who is American married to a Kuwaiti. She has 2 kids from the Kuwaiti and 2 from her American x husband who were raised with the Kuwaiti. They moved here a few years ago and because Kuwait does not recognize or fathom the idea that a Kuwaiti would have step kids there are no laws to protect them or legalize them here. Long story short they are stuck in a catch 22 kind of a thing. The 2 daughters now in their very early 20s can’t get legal documents or get enrolled into a college. Several ministries have asked for different simple documents that they want from the embassy and the American embassy has refused to help in any way. At one point they just asked for a stamp to prove that they tried to get a document notorized and they said no, Then they said could we have something in writing that says that you don’t provide this service or can’t give me the document they are asking for so I can give it to the ministry and they still said no.
Another relative is half Kuwaiti/American. He was born in America and his wife and kids are American. He is struggling financially. Since Kuwait does not accept the fact that he is has American nationality they put a block on his civil ID and was told he can not register his kids as Kuwaiti and can not get government assistance on his salary for them (50 kd per month for each child) He was told he had to denounce his American nationality. It costs money to denounce that he does not have. The embassy told him that in his case they might refuse his request because of certain ties he has to America. He asked OK can I get that in writing or can I get prove at that point that I tried and again they said no. These are just 2 of the many stories that I have been told of. One consistant thing I have heard from many people is that when they insist on speaking to someone higher up they get escorted to a small room and behind a glass window someone comes to talk to them who claims to be a minister or someone important, it seams like they take turns who will be the boss for that day and that person is less than helpful. Who ever they meet with ends up saying something to the effect of “well your not in America you are here voluntarily and you can always go back to America.” OBVIOUSLY they explain that for family reasons they have to stay in Kuwait. In many occasions they get told that if they can get wasta in a ministry they can bypass whatever document they are being asked for. Seriously!
BESIDES DOCUMENTS
I feel they just put such little effort in support and presence here. Before Corona you would see that all kids of events are held by different embassies, look at the Spaniard and Mexican embassy they hold awesome events unlike the American where the embassador just shows up to shake hands with a sheikh and take pictures. When this whole Corona thing started they took a while to even address it in any shape way on their Instagram if you don’t believe me you can check. But it doesn’t surprise me. I always knew if the crap ever hit the fan that we would be on our own and the embassy doesn’t care. I think it’s cute how they repost info that’s posted every where and directs us if we need help with anything to local numbers in other words don’t call us for anything at all.
I called them early on during this pandemic before they posted anything about it because a lot of my friends were being forced to go to work in schools even when schools were suppose to be closed. I asked please just post something on Instagram telling American citizens that they should adhere to the MOE orders and stay safe. Just so the teachers can have a back bone and tell their employers my embassy has advised us not to. Of course they refused to do something so simple as to post a PSA on their social media advising American citizens to stay home. They suck!