Brunei or Kuwait
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Brunei | Kuwait | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 20 years | — |
| Partner can work | no | — |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | difficult |
| Pet limit | no limit | no limit |
| Quarantine | no | — |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 946 · estimate | $ 1 265 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 31,6 | $ 24,2 |
| Life expectancy | 75.5 | 84.58 |
| Homicides/100k | 0.49 | 0.78 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 2.8 | 2.7 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Brunei — 19, Kuwait — 30. Types present in both: work, family and investment. Brunei adds: talent and repatriation. Kuwait adds: study.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Brunei: the fee is 50 BND wherever it is published. Kuwait: fees range from 1 to 200 KWD. Routes with no fee: 1. Routes stating an income threshold: 2; the lowest is 450 KWD a month.
Beyond the first permit
Citizenship: Brunei after 20 years; the other country publishes no term.
Brunei in brief
Brunei is an oil-and-gas monarchy on the island of Borneo with one of the most closed long-term entry regimes in the world. The grounds for working residence are the Employment Pass, rigidly tied to a specific employer and requiring the employer to hold a Foreign Workers Licence from the Department of Labour, the Professional Visit Pass for select categories of experts, the Dependant's Pass for family members, and the Student's Pass. For none of these categories does the immigration service's official website publish processing times. There is no separate permanent residence status with a published number of years: the closest analogue, the Entry Permit, is granted at the discretion of the Controller of Immigration without an objective criterion. Naturalisation is governed by the Brunei Nationality Act (Cap. 15): 20 years of residence in the country out of the preceding 25 years, an oral exam in Malay before the Language Board, and a decision made entirely at the Sultan's discretion; time spent in the country on temporary passes (including work passes) does not count toward this period unless the Sultan directs otherwise. Dual citizenship is not permitted. There is no personal income tax — the Income Tax Act taxes only the income of legal entities. The country's economy rests on the extraction and export of oil and natural gas. Since 2014 the Syariah Penal Code Order, 2013 has been phased in and is in force; under the code's direct provision (s. 3(1)) it applies to both Muslims and non-Muslims unless expressly stated otherwise, and it includes hudud and qisas categories of offences. The sale of alcohol is banned throughout the country (Excise Order, 2006, s. 73).
Kuwait in brief
Kuwait levies no income tax on wages (gov.uk, «Living in Kuwait») and its residence system is built entirely around a sponsor: a residence permit for work is issued under art. 18 of implementing decision No. 957/2019 (private sector) or art. 17 (public sector), and joining a supporter under art. 22. There is no permanent status under the new law either: the 1959 emiri decree was repealed by decree-law No. 114/2024, which knows only fixed-term permits — up to five years ordinary, up to ten for children of Kuwaiti women and property owners, up to fifteen for investors. The naturalisation rules could not be verified against the primary source: the relevant interior ministry site is protected by an anti-bot mechanism that blocked automated access throughout the research. Importing pets requires a permit from the responsible authority (Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources), but the details of the procedure could not be confirmed through the official channels available in this pass. Of the measurable: one of the lowest homicide rates in the world (0.78 per 100,000, UNODC 2022), a high life expectancy (84.58 years, World Bank 2024) and some of the highest summer temperatures anywhere — a mean July temperature of 37.7 °C with heavy air pollution from desert dust (PM2.5 62.35 µg/m³, World Bank 2023). The country is effectively a single capital agglomeration: the official «cities» in this reference are governorates (Kuwait City, Hawalli, Al Ahmadi, Al Farwaniyah, Al Jahra), not separate destinations.
Other comparisons
Brunei or… Taiwan · South Korea · Japan · Thailand · Kazakhstan · Lebanon · Uzbekistan · Malaysia
Kuwait or… Azerbaijan · Philippines · Bangladesh · Iraq · Mongolia · Oman · People's Republic of China · Sri Lanka
More on each: Brunei · Kuwait. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.