Sometime last year, President William Ruto made a declaration that Kenya would be a visa-free regime for all countries in the world. That was a bold move.
Kenyans expected that the government would actualise this directive and ensure a balance between security and facilitation was maintained as has been the case when we operated on a visa regime. In January, the government rolled out the electronic travel authorisation (ETA) system, and for about one month, the new visa-free regime has been working.
The presidential directive and its implementation have possibly affected the operations and policy directions of the relevant government ministries, departments, and agencies involved in the entry, stay, and exit of travellers coming to Kenya. A month is good enough to make some early projections and reflections on what ETA means to Kenya and the country’s international relations.
A visa is an authorisation to travel. That authorisation is a consolidation of a security background check, a reflection of the traveller’s history, and a commitment to facilitate a traveller who is not on the alert list for any crime. Countries utilise visas to exercise their sovereignty.
Through the issuance of visas, countries have exercised their capacity to control the entry and exit of people within a country’s borders.
Visas are issued by immigration authorities (or similar formations) in line with the expectations of international relations. The Westphalia Treaty of 1648 obligates states to consider other states in some kind of relationship. Reciprocity then becomes the principle that guides international relations.
Good visa regimes allow nationals of the implementing country to receive cordial treatment when they visit other countries. Visas are, therefore, a manifestation of sovereignty, good relations, diplomacy, and sound foreign policy.
Since independence, Kenya has run a visa regime that categorises countries into: countries whose nationals can get visas on arrival, countries whose nationals do not require visas, countries with a visa abolition agreement and holders of laissez-passers issued by the United Nations Agencies Funds and Programmes and their affiliates, holders of diplomatic passports and referral visa category. In support of tourism, Kenya has operated on a policy that waived visas for children under 16 years.
The Ministry of Tourism has often argued based on some statistics that the country has benefited from this policy as tourists seek quality tourism in Kenya. ETA has changed this landscape. Kenya has collapsed the previously grounded categories into two or three.
The only exempt group is nationals of the East African Community countries. The rest will need to apply for an ETA. While this move is likely to improve the government’s revenue base, it is likely to affect Kenya in several ways.
As cited above, the principle of reciprocity is likely to affect Kenyans travelling to other countries where they previously did not require a visa.
Secondly, Kenya promised a visa-free regime. The $30 charged for ETA does not help explain what a visa-free regime is. Countries in the commonwealth have enjoyed collegiality with Kenya. Should their nationals, who now have to pay the $30 make remediations in their treatment of Kenyans visits? Third, will ETA support or shun the thought of visiting Kenya? How do some countries contend with a whopping 300 percent increase in visa fees?
Beyond the concerns raised above, we may need to consider some legislative amends to the entry procedures in Kenya. While the immigration legislations were amended in 2011 and 2012 to align with the realities envisaged in the Constitution, it will be assumed that the inclusion of visa regulations was a clear message on Kenya’s management of entry, stay, and exit of visitors and citizens.
The ETA needs to be part of this nomenclature. For instance, how does the ETA’s implementation sit with the categorisations spelt out in the regulations? How do we peg ETA to the immigration statuses conferred on the visitors’ passes, yet the legal link seems to suggest a visa regime? If visas were the impetus of administratively issuing three months to visitors with a possible extension of three months, can we now expect a straight six months for a foreigner visiting Kenya on a visa-free regime?
What happens in cases where Kenya has already entered into visa abolition agreements such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, and San Marino, among others? Is the ETA a handmaiden of the immigration law, or we are finally in an era of disruptions, and therefore everyone needs to re-orient their thinking about global mobility and envisage the realities of a borderless world? Time will tell soon.
The writers are immigration experts at Vialto Partners Kenya.
