The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has warned foreign nationals that the new electronic travel authorisation that was supposed to be operational these days, with the first permits issued as of 5 January, is not yet ready to function properly, so in a statement issued yesterday afternoon and picked up by the national media, it clarified that foreigners arriving in Kenya from countries from which the online 'evisa' visa is required will still have to apply for it until further notice.

The same site warns that visas issued in 2024 will be valid, even though Etakenya.go.ke, as of midnight yesterday, was giving the 'green light' to apply and in some cases we have been told of payments having been made, with pending issuance of approvals that at this point it is not known whether they will arrive or remain pending until the final implementation of the site itself.

It is another of the unfortunate inconveniences concerning the technology applied to services in Kenya, which is experiencing various problems and delays, both with regard to the immigration site, with the issuance of work and residence permits, visa extensions and renewals, and that of the NTSA civil registration office, for transfers and the ventilated requirement to convert car number plates to the new digital format.

However, tourism is also at stake here and this constant discordant information certainly does not facilitate the organisation of international travel to Kenya.
We try to keep you updated every day, hour and possibly minute, but it is not easy.
At this point we take the KCAA's advice for good: continue to apply for your visa online until informed otherwise, if you are about to leave in the next few weeks. According to KCAA, in fact, 'the visa waiver policy will not go into effect immediately, as the government is still developing and implementing the electronic travel authorisation system'.

Needless to say, those who have tried the ETA in the past few hours and paid, will hopefully get their money back or otherwise be exempted from paying on any upcoming trip to Kenya.