Working/setting up business in Kuwait

by Ibraheem



Assalamu alaikum,


I made hijrah to Kuwait around eight months ago. I was living in s.e. asia before that. I have been working as an English teacher for the last few years. If you have a bachelors degree (better if it is in the education field, but not 100% necessary) it is quite easy to find employment here as an English teacher. If you are a native speaker, have a degree, and even just a little experience, there are a host of jobs available. Salaries for someone that meet this criteria generally start at around 800-900kwd a month (around 2500-3000usd) and generally include a furnished apartment at a decent western standard. If no housing is included, the salary might be a little bit higher. It is fairly normal for the school to arrange picking you up and taking you home as well. For any of these type of jobs, it would probably be in a private school that follows a u.s. or u.k. curriculum. These type of schools schedule basically follow a 7am-3pm routine, Sunday-Thursday, with Thursday being a little bit shorter day. Summer holiday is around two months and it is paid. These can be really really great setups.

I do not have a university degree, just TESOL and experience. I have been able to find a job ALhamdullilah, at a language institute/vocational type school, but I work six days a week and my salary is much much lower than those listed above. Much, haha. It is also extremely extremely difficult to get a full work visa for myself with my situation. I am an American, so it is possible for me to leave every three months, go over to Dubai for a day or two, and come right back and renew my visa. But it is not an ideal situation.




I forgot to mention about setting up a business. I have an American friend who has done so. You must have a Kuwaiti partner who is basically 51% owner, even if it is just on paper. It costs around 600kwd to get a business license and you must also have a permanent address/office. You can find a tiny closet like office that is basically set up for this purpose for like 200kwd a month. One benefit of doing this is that your "business" can get straight away your own I think up to 3 Iqama visas. The Iqama is the name of the work visa.