British Ambassador to Kuwait, Frank Baker said recently that since the beginning of the year more than 38,000 visas were issued for Kuwaiti citizens, and an estimated 20,000 tourist visas were issued in the past two months. The ambassador’s statements came during a news conference at the Visa Application Centre (VAC). “We are proud of providing good services”, the ambassador said, noting that all visas were issued within 48 hours. He welcomed all those applying to study in the UK, stressing the importance of applying for the student visa as early as possible, since processing takes 5-10 working days.
On his part, the Director of the Visa Application Centre (VAC) in Kuwait, Paul Dryden said that the center was keen on issuing as many visas as possible for Kuwaiti citizens, stateless (bedoun), and also third country citizens, as long as all documents were in order. “We will make it as easy as possible,” he added. On the other hand, Ambassador Frank Baker referred to the joint security agreement signed between Kuwait and the UK yesterday, and said that both countries have maintained a close security relationship since 1961 after Kuwait’s independence. Britain had sent troops to protect Kuwait from the Iraqi threats, and in 1991, it played a major part in the war to liberate Kuwait from the Iraqi seven-month occupation, and again took part in the 2003 war to liberate Iraq and the ousting of the regime of Saddam Hussain.
Security agreements between Kuwait and the UK are very clear, historic and have been stable for a long time. The MOU signed in London yesterday consists of working together in the security field, and UK playing a leading role in advising Kuwait on internal security,” he said. The ambassador affirmed that the new UK government, headed by David Cameron, had made it clear that the Gulf area is extremely important to the UK, Kuwait in particular. Therefore; working on boosting relations between the UK and the Gulf region, illustrated in additional exchanged officials visits between the two sides, is of priority.