Paper Car Insurance Ends in Kuwait on 25 October

From 25 October, you won’t be able to walk out of an insurance office in Kuwait with a paper copy of your mandatory car insurance.

The Insurance Regulatory Unit has announced that the trial phase of its updated electronic “Beema” system starts that day and runs until 31 December 2026. During this window, eligible insurance companies registered on the platform, along with their contracted brokers, must comply with new rules for issuing mandatory vehicle insurance policies.

The headline change is simple but significant: paper-based civil liability insurance, the kind that covers traffic accidents involving Kuwaiti-registered vehicles, is being suspended. Any such document issued outside the approved electronic process will be considered invalid.

So what actually changes for drivers?

If you’re renewing or buying mandatory vehicle insurance after 25 October, expect the paperwork to look different. Your policy will come out of the Insurance Regulatory Unit’s website through the Beema platform rather than as a printed slip from the counter. As we reported earlier on the Bima system rollout, this move has been building for a while as Kuwait pushes its insurance and registration processes online.

This also fits into a wider pattern of digitisation across Kuwait’s government and financial services this year, from the new digital salary system for expat workers to fully online credit card applications. Insurance is simply the latest service to drop its paper trail.

What happens if the system goes down?

The circular, issued on Saturday, does leave room for exceptions when technology fails. If a disruption is caused by an outage or malfunction on the Insurance Regulatory Unit’s own systems, paper-based issuance can still happen – but only if the unit is notified immediately.

If the problem instead originates with an insurance company’s own systems, the company must tell the unit the reasons straight away, and it will need the unit’s prior approval before issuing anything on paper. In short: paper is now the exception, not the default, and every exception has to be reported and approved.

Who is exempt from the electronic-only rule?

There’s one clear carve-out. Mandatory insurance policies for private vehicles belonging to illegal residents will keep being issued in paper form. But this comes with conditions:

1. The insurance unit must be notified immediately when such a policy is issued.
2. Valid proof from the Central Agency for Addressing the Status of Illegal Residents must be submitted.
3. Insurance companies must use the approved review-card forms the unit circulates to them by email.
4. All of the agency’s terms and conditions must be followed.

New rules for insurance brokers

Brokers aren’t getting a free pass either. Registered insurance companies can give their contracted brokers a sub-user account on the Beema system, but only if that arrangement is written into their contract and meets the unit’s regulatory requirements.

Brokers have to name the specific employees, registered under the company’s residency sponsorship, who are authorised to use that sub-account. They also need a signed declaration on official company letterhead – signed by the general manager – confirming the account will only be used by those authorised staff.

There’s also a location rule: policies can only be issued from the broker’s licensed premises. Issuing documents from anywhere else is not allowed. Insurance companies are barred from switching on sub-accounts until the contract details, authorised employee list and declaration are all in place.

To get brokers ready in time, insurance companies have been told to run introductory workshops on using the Beema system starting from the date of the circular. They’re also required to keep records of who attended and hand these over to the unit whenever asked.

No more cash for premiums

Another firm line in the circular: insurance premiums must be paid exclusively through electronic payment channels. Cash payments are prohibited under all circumstances, in line with the rules governing entities the unit supervises.

The circular’s provisions apply without affecting Resolution No. 32 of 2025, and will stay in force until a further regulatory decision is issued.

What this means for people in Kuwait

For everyday drivers, citizens and expats alike, the practical impact is mostly about where and how your insurance gets issued, not what it costs. You’ll likely need to deal with insurance offices or brokers that are already set up on Beema, and it’s worth asking your broker now whether they’re ready for 25 October rather than finding out at renewal time.

For anyone whose residency status is irregular, the paper exemption matters a lot – it means you can still get mandatory vehicle insurance, but only through the Central Agency’s documented process, not as a casual walk-in purchase.

This also connects to other changes reshaping how Kuwait handles vehicles and documentation this month – see our coverage of the new traffic crackdown on delivery riders for another example of enforcement tightening up around vehicle use.

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