State nets Sh155m from visa free rollout, PS says

The country has earned Sh155 million in the last one week from foreign travelers coming into the country under the newly introduced Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok attributed the earnings to the bulk applications and faster approvals of the travel authorization that he termed as real-time.

During an assessment exercise of the ETA rollout at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Bitok said, out of 32000 applications received so far, the government has approved 25000 requests travelers while rejecting 110 applications.

“With the ETA system, we have been able to collect 1,000,000 dollars in the last seven days which is very impressive because this money comes outside, this is foreign exchange for the people of Kenya,” he said.

“The number of tourist now has doubled, there are more inquiries and more interests in coming,” he added, saying that travelers now experience convenience coming to Kenya.

In a gazette notice, the government issued an advisory that seeks to abolish visa as an authorization document to travel to the country, following President William Ruto’s announcement to make Kenya a visa free nation.

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The Ruto’s directive on Kenya’s 60th Jamhuri celebrations will see travelers seeking to visit the country make application for their travel authorization through ETA.

“Each person intending to travel into the country shall apply to the Director for Electronic Travel Authorization through the electronic portal and be in possession of the Authorization before embarkment,” the Gazette notice reads in part.

According to PS Bitok, citizens from 51 countries globally have so far used the ETA system.

Assuring the stability of the system from cyber-attack, Bitok said that the government is collaborating with other countries’ and global security agencies to scrutinise travelers’ information.

“We have watchlist from other nations, Interpol, United Nations and many other security agencies around the world who share with us information,” Bitok said, maintaining that, for those they denied entry, the government is convinced.

Immigration Director General Evelyn Cheluget noted that the department has been considerate on the technicalities with questions on the application forms.

“We are gone ahead to reduce the number of questions in the forms that we’re causing a bit of stress to the people,” she stated.

Kenya is the first country in Africa to introduce Visa free travel policy, and President Ruto is calling on other African countries to emulate Kenya’s decision.