Kenya Visa and Entry Requirements

Read this part first

Entry rules change, and they change without much notice. This page therefore states no fee, no processing time, no passport validity period and no requirement as a fact. What it does is tell you which authority sets the rule, where the official application is, and what an airline will actually check before it lets you board. Verify everything against the sources at the foot of this page, and do it again in the week you travel.

A wrong entry rule does not inconvenience you at the border. It stops you boarding.

Kenya uses an Electronic Travel Authorization

Kenya operates an Electronic Travel Authorization — an eTA — applied for online before travel. The Republic of Kenya runs an official portal for it. Approval is granted in advance and presented on arrival; it is not a document you obtain at the airport on the day.

Apply through the official government portal and nowhere else. There is a substantial industry of third-party sites that will complete the same form on your behalf for a markup, and some of them rank well in search results. They are not faster, they are not the authority, and using one means handing your passport details to a company you have no reason to trust.

Who needs one

Requirements differ by nationality, by purpose of travel, by the length of stay, and by whether you are transiting. Some categories of traveler are treated differently from ordinary visitors. Because this is exactly the kind of detail that changes, the honest answer is to check the eTA portal and the Directorate of Immigration Services for your own passport rather than to rely on what a friend needed last year.

What the airline checks

Your airline, not the Kenyan border, is the first place your documents are examined, and it applies the requirements as its own systems record them. The IATA Travel Centre is the consolidated reference those systems draw on, which makes it a useful cross-check against the government sources — if the two disagree, resolve the disagreement before you go to the airport rather than at the desk.

Bring evidence of onward travel and of where you are staying. Both are commonly asked for and both are trivial to have ready.

Passport condition

Kenya, like most countries, has requirements about how long your passport must remain valid and how many blank pages it must have. This page does not state the numbers because they are precisely the sort of detail that is periodically revised. Check the current figures, and note that a passport that satisfies the rule but is damaged can still be refused.

Yellow fever and health documentation

Whether a yellow fever vaccination certificate is required of you depends on where you have traveled before arriving, not only on where you are going. This interacts with entry, so it belongs on this page as a pointer rather than as an answer. Our travel safety guide covers the health side, and the CDC guidance is the reference for both.

Regional arrangements

East African countries have at times operated joint or regional visa arrangements covering travel between them. If your trip includes more than one country in the region, ask specifically about this rather than assuming either that it exists or that it does not — the arrangements have changed more than once.

Common questions

How far ahead should I apply?

Well ahead. Processing is usually quick and is not guaranteed to be, and an application that needs correcting needs time to be corrected.

Is there a visa on arrival?

Do not plan on one. Check the current position on the official portal; the entire design of an advance authorization system is that it is completed before departure.

What if my details change after approval?

Contact the issuing authority through the official portal. Do not travel on an authorization that does not match your passport.

Seeing it on a LABUSA Travel journey

We will tell you what your itinerary requires and when to start, and we will remind you before it becomes urgent. We cannot apply on your behalf, and any service that offers to should be treated with suspicion.