NAIROBI, Kenya. January 11 -The number of foreigners who have applied to visit Kenya using the newly introduced Electronic Travel Authorisation has hit 32,000 in the last one week.
At least 25,000 of these have already been cleared while 110 other applications have been rejected for security reasons.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Prof Julius Bitok on Thursday said the total revenue obtained through ETA in the same period stands at around one million USD (Sh157million).
“This is much needed foreign exchange. The number of tourists coming has increased because we have made travelling to Kenya easy,” the PS said.
The introduction of ETA as a travel procedure was a global trend informed by security concerns and the need to obtain important passenger profiles in advance. It is already in existence in many Western countries.
The PS said ETA which has replaced visa as a travel requirement for entry to Kenya is being reviewed and refined to further reduce the turnaround time for applications and approvals.
The requirement to attach personal bank statements as part of ETA application has since been dropped alongside other non-essential details to make the application form more friendly.
President William Ruto had last year directed that Kenya does away with visas as an entry requirement beginning this year to encourage more visitors into the country.
The Kenyan ETA is a semi-automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to Kenya.
Besides the nationals of 51 mainly African countries who were previously allowed to travel to Kenya visa-free, all other foreign travelers to Kenya were required to apply and pay for visa at USD50.
Citizens of the East African Community member states will be granted free ETA until further notice.
At USD30 per application, ETA is intended to harmonize these charges across the board while granting automatic priority to nationals from the countries that were previously eligible for visa-free entry.
The Director General of Immigration Evelyn Cheluget said the government is tapping into customer experiences to enhance ETA efficiency.
“We have improved the system. We have been listening to feedback from our clients and we’ve gone ahead to reduce the number of questions in the form that that were causing stress,” she said.
She added that the system has been customized to pick and prioritize their applications based on their travel dates.
The new system has reduced the application time for travelers, from the previous 14 days to just 3 days.
On Friday last week, the PS received the first batch of visitors under the visa-free policy.
They include valid passport for at least six months after their planned date of arrival into Kenya with at least one blank page; selfie or passport-type photo; email address and phone number; details of arrival and departure itinerary; and accommodation booking confirmation among others.
To ensure that all passengers getting into the country are subjected to advance screening using the ETA, the Ministry of Interior has proposed a Bill, The Kenya Citizenship and Immigration (Amendment) Regulations, 2023 that seeks to amend the principal regulations by introducing advance passenger information (API) and to secure the data.
According to the Bill, API means the biographic data of a passenger or crew member and the flight details of an aircraft operator and other relevant details, against security databases before they even arrive in the country.
The airlines or agents will play a key role in providing information and where access to specific API is necessary to respond to a threat, the aircraft operator will supply accurate data to the director of Immigration.
If the information is found to be erroneous, faulty or misleading, the airline shall be liable to pay an administrative penalty of USD10,000 (Sh1.57million).
The amendment also seeks to digitize immigration processes and integrate border services to enhance efficiency, improve security measures, facilitate a streamlined travel experience, and ensure security.
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