What a visa-free travel to Kenya means and how it will work

 As Kenya marked 60 years of independence from Britain, President William Ruto made a historic declaration when he announced that global visitors will from January 2024 enter Kenya visa-free.

“It shall no longer be necessary for any person from any corner of the globe to carry the burden of applying for a visa to come to Kenya," President Ruto said in an address at Uhuru Gardens.

The Head of State further explained that all travelers will henceforth obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to enter Kenya.

“To implement this new policy, we have developed a digital platform to ensure that all travellers to Kenya are identified in advance on an electronic platform,” he stated.

Before the presidential declaration, Kenya had waived visa requirements for a number of countries.

According to Immigration information on eCitizen, nationals of 42 countries ranked as Category 1 had been exempted from obtaining a Visa.

Nationals from 144 other countries ranked as category 2, may be issued with e-Visas upon application on eCitizen platform.

While 25 groups have been exempted from the visa requirement, nationals from 16 other countries are not allowed to make e-Visa applications on eCitizen.

What then does it mean to make Kenya a visa-free state to the world? A visa-free travel to a country is the ability to visit a country without having to obtain a visa with your passport.

Visa-free policies are commonly applied only for tourist or business purposes and allow short stays between 30-90 days in a country. Importantly, visitors still need a valid travel document such as a passport to enter a visa-free state.

Nations establish visa-free entries to establish good diplomatic relationships or to achieve economic development.

As a proponent of free trade in Africa, President Ruto has on numerous occasions called on African nations to abolish visa requirements for its population.

This, Ruto says, will support the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which seeks to create a borderless market for African entrepreneurs and businesses.

Under the visa-free policy, Kenya will begin using the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to identify visitors entering its soil.

With an aim to digitize its borders by 2025, the UK government in 2023 launched an ETA to allow travellers from eligible nations to visit Britain without acquiring a visa. The visa-free provision will apply to citizens of selected nations, who visit UK for tourism, study, business or to visit friends and family.

The Canadian government also has an ETA policy for visa-exempt countries.

To get an ETA, a traveler intending to visit Kenya will required to apply through a digital platform, just as announced by President Ruto.

Normally, one is required to have a valid passport for verification, and will also be needed to pay a fee. In some cases, additional identification documents may be required before the authorization is validated.

The ETA is then electronically linked to one’s passport or travel document.

While the visa requirement for visitors will be scrapped, this does not mean that there will be no charges to apply for entry into Kenya using the ETA.

In a gazette notice in November 2023, the government through the Ministry of Interior had announced that ETA charges will be $30 (approximately Ksh.4,500) from January 2024.

The gazette notice had also highlighted changes in visa fees, where a Single Entry Visa would cost $ 100, $500 for a Multiple Entry Visa, $160 for a 5-year Multiple Entry Visa and $200 for an extension of visa after six months.

Additionally, Sanctions for Overstaying will cost $100, Referral/Multiple Entry Visa processing fees will cost $100, a Transit Visa for $50 and an East African Tourism Visa for $100. The changes were meant to be effective on January 1, 2024.

Globally, nations have made various visa pacts to ease movement and trade within one another. Other also have visa-free policies, and ETA systems in place.

Such visa agreements include the Schengen Agreement; which covers 27 European countries, the US Visa Waiver Program which allows citizens from 40 countries to enter America without a visa.

Citizens from 15 member states in the ECOWAS can enter without a visa and stay for 90 days and the East African Community agreement enables visa-free travel for Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda citizens.

There is also a Commonwealth Agreement that allow citizens of certain commonwealth countries to enter visa-free in member states, and a bilateral agreement that allows US and Canada citizens to travel across the two countries without a visa by using either; their passport, a border crossing card, or an enhanced driver’s license.