During Kenya’s 2023 ‘Jamhuri Day’ celebrations, held annually on 12 December marking the country’s attainment of independence from Britain and becoming a republic, the President HE William Ruto announced that Kenya was going to be a visa-free country for ALL foreigners from 1st January 2024.
Following this pronouncement, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration published on 2nd January 2024 the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration (Amendment) Regulations, 2023 (“ETA Regulations”) amending the immigration regulations, the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Regulations, 2012.
The ETA Regulations have abolished the requirement for foreign nationals -except foreign nationals from exempt countries and exempted persons- entering Kenya to acquire a visa, and instead introduced a pre-travel check and approval system known as an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) for ALL travellers.
The ETA system (in some countries called the Electronic System of Travel Authorisation ESTA) is a digital pre-travel clearance system for air passengers from countries which are visa-exempt. The ETA/ESTA system is already used by several countries including the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and it is anticipated that such a system will be introduced by the European Union countries in 2024.
An ETA is a digital document applied for and obtained online. It serves as a preliminary screening and assessment of travellers who would otherwise, on account of visa exemption, arrive in a foreign country without the knowledge of the receiving foreign country. It is therefore essentially a security tool for border protection and control. In comparison to a visa, the ETA provides a faster, less costly and more convenient authorisation to enter a foreign country for incoming travellers.
A visa, whilst also a pre-screening and assessment system, is often lengthy, sometimes complicated or cumbersome, time consuming and costly: Visa applications in many countries requiring physical attendance of visa processing centers and or embassies; ‘Wait times’ for obtaining visa appointments and visa issuance can be lengthy- sometimes going into several weeks-; and biometric data is generally collected.
This clear difference and distinction between ETA and visa however does not apply to Kenya, which adopted an electronic pre-travel visa (eVisa) system from January 2021. Having rolled out the eVisa system in January 2020 alongside ‘visa on arrival’ system, Kenya did away with the latter from January 2021, from which date all foreign travellers to Kenya (except East Africa Community members and certain visa-free countries) needed to obtain an eVisa in advance to travel to Kenya. And with eVisas’ generally being issued digitally 48-72 hours after online application, Kenya’s eVisa system has seemingly had the efficiencies and advantages of the ETA system. As such, the change to the ETA system will likely make little to no difference for travellers who have hitherto required eVisas to travel to Kenya- such as all EU member countries like Italy and Germany. In our view therefore, the ETA system is not likely to see a change in the number of tourists visiting Kenya from these previously non visa-exempt countries.
Notably however, travellers from formerly visa-exempt countries are now required to obtain ETAs prior to travelling to Kenya. This is because unlike the visa system, the ETA system does not provide for ‘ETA-free’ countries or distinguish or categorise or make preference for any countries, the only exception being nationals from the other six EAC members: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Though seemingly a simple and quick application process and largely similar to the eVisa, the ETA system has introduced, perhaps unintentionally, a pre-travel application process and fee for air travellers coming from the following countries (mostly Latin American and African countries) who, prior to January 2024, only required their passport to travel to Kenya: Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji Island, Guyana, Ghana, Grenada, Jamaica, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia (For less than 30 days stay), Maldives, Mauritius, Namibia, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Samoa, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa (For less than 30 days stay), St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, Seychelles, Tanzania, The Bahamas, The Gambia, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Whilst we do not anticipate that the government will exempt travellers from these countries from the ETA requirement, there may be further amendments to exempt them from the ETA fee.
Application process, fees and requirements for carriers
The ETA Regulations require that each person travelling into Kenya apply for an ETA at least three days prior to travelling to Kenya, through the ETA website (www.etakenya.go.ke). The following categories of persons are however exempted: –
- Holders of valid Kenya Passports or one-way Emergency Certificate issued by Kenya Missions abroad.
- Holders of Kenya Permanent Residence, valid Work Permits and Passes.
- Holders of valid United Nation Conventional Travel Document issued by the Government of Kenya.
- Members of the Diplomatic Missions and International Organizations Accredited to Kenya.
- Citizens of the East African Partner States; These countries include Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and
Uganda. (Exempted for Six (6) months) - All passengers in transit through Kenya arriving and leaving by the same aircraft or transferring to another aircraft and who do not leave the
precincts of Airports in Kenya. - All passengers arriving and leaving by the same ship, and who do not leave the ship.
- Members of crew of any ship, aircraft, train, vehicle or carrier; whose name and particulars are included in the crew manifest of the ship, aircraft, train,
vehicle or carrier; and who is proceeding in such ship, aircraft, train, vehicle or carrier to a destination outside Kenya. - Owners of private aircraft stopping over for refuelling in Kenya and who do not leave the precincts of the airport.
The ETA website provides that the ETA fee is US$ 34, though the regulations are yet to be amended to provide this. eVisa fees for a single entry has been US$ 50.
Once issued, an ETA is valid for a single entry to Kenya, meaning permission or authorisation akin to multiple-entry visas do not apply.
With the ETA system, all carriers are now required not to onboard a passenger who do not hold a valid ETA. In addition, every carrier is required to send to the Immigration Department at least 24 hours prior to arrival, Advance Passenger Information (API) and the Passenger Name Record (PNR). Any carrier which fails to submit the API or PNR shall be surcharged to pay an Administrative Penalty of US$ 10,000.
For more information, contact us:
Judy Chebet chebet@chebetlaw.com
Caiphas Chepkwony caiphaschepkwony@chebetaw.com
January 2024