Reduced Fees: Govt Reveals 4 Changes To ETA After Ruto Visa-Free Order
So far, 9,787 ETA applications have been received
Marvin Chege 
The Ministry of Interior has announced four changes in an update on the development of the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) to complement the visa-free directive announced by President William Ruto.
In a statement, Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok on Sunday, January 7 announced that the entry requirements and applicable payments for all foreign nationals, except for East African Community (EAC) citizens, will now be the same irrespective of the country of origin.
This means that the ETA fee for all will now be capped at Ksh4,653.65 ($30) compared to the visa fee which was Ksh7,756.08 ($50), a move the Ministry believes will ensure fairness and equality.
Before ETA, citizens from 51 countries enjoyed visa-free entry to Kenya, while travellers from 155 other countries were subject to a visa application process at a cost of Ksh7,756.
Screengrab of the Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) Kenya page. /ETA KENYA
Also announced were changes concerning advance passenger information.
"Previously, travellers from 51 countries were not required to fill out any forms on personal and relevant travel details. There was therefore no means of obtaining data to inform critical decisions and plans around security, infrastructure and insurance needs.
"With the introduction of the ETA, we now have comprehensive data on all visitors, significantly improving our ability to ensure the safety and well-being of both our visitors and citizens," the statement read in part.
In addition, compared to visa application, ETA provides for a simple and faster process.
Previously, it took up to 14 days to process visa applications for foreigners from 12 listed countries. The waiting period for this category has now been drastically reduced to a maximum of 72 hours.
Bitok also revealed that to guarantee a seamless experience, the Ministry has introduced a 24-hour service desk dedicated to ETA.
"This will ensure clients are promptly attended to irrespective of the hour while also taking into consideration the different time zones across the world," added the statement.
So far, 9,787 ETA applications have been received on https://www.etakenya.go.ke according to the Interior Ministry.
Of these, 4,046 have already been processed while the others are undergoing review on a priority basis guided by the travel schedule submitted by each applicant.
An ETA is an automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to a specific country without requiring a traditional visa.
It is an electronic form of permission that travellers must obtain before boarding a flight or entering the destination country, and in this case, meant to tame the influx of travellers to Kenya once the visas are abolished.
The government had previously announced the postponement of President Ruto's visa-free directive as the ETA system was still being developed, despite President Ruto announcing that the visa-free directive would commence in January 2024.
However, the first batch of travellers arrived in the country on Friday, January 5, four days after the visa-free regime was set to begin.
