Kuwait’s Interior Ministry on June 10, 2026, issued a circular restricting domestic worker recruitment to ten approved countries and banning it from 27 others, such as Nigeria and Kenya. The revised policy aims to tighten regulations and improve oversight in the domestic labor sector, according to reports from Business Insider Africa and Gulf News.
The approved countries under the new framework are South Africa, Benin, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Nepal and Senegal, the Interior Ministry circular specified. Recruitment from Senegal is limited to male workers. Reports indicate that the list was drawn from nations with established cooperation on labor matters.
Countries excluded from the recruitment process include Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and more than a dozen additional African states along with Madagascar and Bhutan, according to the ministry directive detailed in local and regional media. The Interior Ministry’s move seeks to create a more manageable system for domestic labor inflows. This adjustment forms part of Kuwait’s continued refinement of its expatriate workforce policies.
Kuwait’s large expatriate community, which the Public Authority for Civil Information has previously estimated at over 3 million people, relies heavily on structured labor entry mechanisms, ministry data shows. The policy change follows similar regulatory updates in other GCC nations, including Saudi Arabia’s recent labor reforms that impacted remittance patterns for several African economies, Nation Africa reported. Such measures align labor supply with national oversight capacities.
The circular instructs recruitment agencies to source domestic workers exclusively from the permitted countries moving forward, the ministry announcement stated. It does not retroactively impact domestic workers already residing and employed in Kuwait. The focus remains on new contracts and fresh recruitment drives.
By concentrating on a smaller group of source countries, authorities can more effectively enforce labor standards and address compliance issues that may arise, assessments cited in coverage of the directive indicated. The updated rules reflect ongoing efforts to modernize Kuwait’s approach to managing its domestic services workforce. Data from industry reports underscore the significance of domestic labor in supporting Kuwaiti family structures and the broader economy.
