Kuwait has issued a temporary ban on issuing visas to people from five countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

That includes suspending all tourism, visit and trade visas as well as visas sponsored by spouses, immigration sources told Kuwaiti media.

Gulf News reports:

They attributed the blanket visa ban to the “difficult security conditions in the five countries” and to “the remarkably increasing tendency of nationals from the five countries to apply for visas to bring in relatives who faced or could face arrest by the local authorities to Kuwait.”

The sources said the authorities insisted that no exception in the visa application would be tolerated, but added that the ban was temporarily and would be lifted after the security situation stabilised.

Last month, a social affairs and labour official denied reports that Kuwait was planning to impose a ban on issuing visas to nationals from the five countries.

What do you think? Is Kuwait doing what it has to do to protect its own interests, or is this overreacting?