Kenya waives visa fees for Ethiopia, five other nations

Kenya has started making some adjustments to its online visitor registration service in an effort to facilitate travel into its borders.

According to Business Insider, this will include a visa fee waiver for select partner nations. The fee waiver follows bilateral agreements between several nations that took effect on February 15.

The project intends to allay concerns and expedite the travel process for guests visiting Kenya. Citizens of Ethiopia and five other nations, Congo-Brazzaville, Eritrea, Mozambique, San Marino, and South Africa would not be required to pay the $30 online application cost when registering to visit Kenya, stated in a report by the East African media agency.

“These nations are countries which had concluded visa abolitions agreement or signed bilateral visa waiver agreements with the Republic of Kenya,” according to the information released by the Kenyan Department of Immigration and Citizen Services.

The normal cost paid through the travel portal was $30, since the Kenyan government had started the Electronic Travel Authorization program in January.

The Ethiopian ambassador to Kenya, Bacha Debele, expressed, “My sincere thanks and appreciation to the Government of Kenya for its prompt response and kind decision to remove Ethiopian citizens from Electronic Travel Authorization related electronic payment requirement.

“We would like to notify our citizens that they are not required to obtain a visa or pay for one in order to enter Kenya. However, they must still fill out an online eTA form prior to their arrival,” the ambassador continued.

The system has been criticized, especially by countries that don’t typically require Kenyans to have visas; this charge exemption is the outcome of those complaints.

Kenyan officials declared in January 2023 that they will provide updates within the next six months about their travel policies for the region.

Other East African Community members have been given a six-month grace period by the government to determine their future course of action with relation to travelling to Kenya. This action was taken to guarantee the effective implementation of the recently streamlined travel policy.