Kuwait’s Ministry of Interior has warned that expatriates face deportation for speeding above 150 km per hour on the country’s roads. The General Traffic Department issued the notice on May 28, 2026 under the slogan “No Tolerance for Exceeding Posted Speed Limits,” specifying that residents caught in major speeding violations will receive a traffic ticket, have their vehicle impounded and be removed from Kuwait. The campaign has already resulted in an Arab expat engineer being referred for deportation after he was clocked driving at 153 km per hour.
Arab Times reported on June 3 that the Arab engineer was observed driving a four-wheel-drive vehicle at that speed, prompting security sources to confirm his transfer to the Deportation Department. His departure is expected within days or hours, the newspaper said. The ministry has made clear that any resident exceeding 150 km/h will encounter the full suite of penalties including escalating fines in addition to deportation proceedings.
The advisory details a tiered system of punishments that increase with the severity of the speeding. Exceeding higher thresholds such as 170 km/h or 200 km/h can lead to imprisonment procedures particularly for repeat or extreme offenders, according to the General Traffic Department. Officials have stressed that there will be no leniency in applying these rules to protect public safety on Kuwait’s highways.
This latest measure adds to a pattern of using deportation to address traffic violations by expatriates. In 2023 the Arab Times reported that roughly 100 expats were deported over two months solely for serious traffic offenses. The current campaign builds on those earlier actions with more explicit guidelines for speeding.
Broader enforcement efforts have seen significant numbers of expats removed from the country. Kuwaiti authorities deported around 3,500 expatriates in January 2026 during intensified security operations targeting residency and labor breaches, according to reports cited by Lexis Middle East from Arab Times. Nearly 40,000 expats were deported throughout 2025, figures that highlight the scale of such drives even if traffic cases form only one part.
The General Traffic Department has called on all drivers to respect speed limits to avoid falling foul of the new rules. The department’s statement distinguished between penalties for citizens, who may face detention, and residents, for whom deportation is now a standard outcome in serious cases. Road safety remains a priority for the ministry as it seeks to curb accidents that have historically strained the emirate’s emergency services.
