Do UAE passport holders need a visa to visit KW?

No visa needed. As a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member state national, a United Arab Emirates ordinary passport holder enters Kuwait visa-free and may stay without a preset time limit for tourism or short visits. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait are both founding members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which guarantees freedom of movement for citizens between member states. A UAE ordinary passport holder requires no visa to enter Kuwait for tourism, family visits, business, or transit. UAE nationals may enter using either a valid UAE passport or a UAE national ID card (smart card) — the latter was reconfirmed by Kuwait in November 2023 and has been actively promoted across the GCC through 2025-2026 as part of unified ID-based travel. There is no entry fee and, under the GCC arrangement, no fixed maximum stay (commonly described as an unlimited/indefinite period of stay for short visits). This is distinct from the visa-on-arrival facility Kuwait introduced in 2025 for foreign residents of GCC states — that applies to expatriates holding GCC residency, not to GCC nationals themselves, who continue to enjoy full visa-free access. The proposed GCC Unified Tourist Visa (a Schengen-style scheme in pilot/rollout for 2026) is aimed at non-GCC tourists and does not affect GCC citizens, who already move freely. Travelers should still carry a passport or national ID valid for the trip and be aware that any individual flagged on a security/blacklist could be refused entry.