Kenya has officially opened its doors to special residence permits for foreign smart workers and “digital nomads.” The introduction of a special “work permit” for these categories of people has been in the works for some time, as announced last year by President William Ruto. In a statement to the media, the immigration office confirmed the introduction of the ‘N’ class permit, which qualifies digital nomads.
“This class of permit is provided to those who work remotely for overseas companies and have chosen Kenya as their place of residence,” the statement said. "Research estimates that around 40 million young professionals are involved in the digital world in fields such as technical, virtual assistants, programmers and app developers, representatives, customer care staff, bloggers, video editors, writers, marketing experts, consultants and freelancers."
The permit will be issued at the discretion of the authorities for a minimum of one and a maximum of two years for all foreigners who do not have immigration restrictions in the country.
Essential requirements are to work under an employment contract for a company registered abroad, or to be a partner or owner of a foreign company, or to offer services as a freelancer for clients located outside Kenya.
The cost of starting the application process will be $200, while the permit will cost $1,000 per year.
As part of the introduction of the ‘N’ permit, two other permits have also been made official: the ‘I’ class, for those working for religious organizations (20,000 shillings per year), and the ‘P’ class permit for employees of the United Nations, diplomatic missions, international organizations working in strategic sectors such as security, peace, and stability, but also in international schools, hospitals, or social projects. The cost is $1,000 per year.