Only 18,000 foreigners have presented themselves to the Department of Immigration Services for verification of their details.
This leaves out more than 82,000 barely 18 days to the deadline.
Kenya in May declared war on foreigners working in the country illegally and ordered a 60-day operation to weed them out.
More than half of foreigners with Kenyan work permits have presented themselves for ongoing vetting to weed out illegal immigrants.
Interior secretary Fred Matiang’i yesterday said 18,000 foreigners out of the targeted 34,000 holders of work permits have presented themselves to the Department of Immigration Services for verification of their details, leaving out about 16,000 who have 18 days to go through the vetting.
Though verification is only possible for the 34,000 holders of official work permits, the exercise is expected to also help weed out the more than 100,000 foreigners thought to be living in Kenya illegally and take out the thousands of aliens holding jobs that can be done by locals.
“We have been operating on a daily basis since the exercise begun on May 22. I’m optimistic that by the time we close, we shall have verified all the work permits and issued new ones. To date, 18,000 foreign workers have registered,” Dr Matiang’i said.
Kenya in May declared war on foreigners working in the country illegally and ordered a 60-day operation to weed them out. During the crackdown, the immigration department created a digital register of legal foreign workers and is issuing them electronic identification cards.
Dr Matiang’i insists that all foreigners with Kenyan work permits who will not have verified their details with the immigration department will be deported.
He was speaking when he visited Nyayo House to review how the verification exercise and registration of work permits is being done, said the deadline will not be extended.
The minister said 31 fake permits have been impounded so far while three brokers have been arrested during the scrutiny that is expected to end in two weeks. He called upon illegal citizens living in Kenya to pay their deportation tickets while indicating that the exercise costs Kenyans a lot of money.
“There are so many people who are jobless in this country yet some people are still bringing foreigners and giving them jobs. They should be prepared to leave as soon as the exercise comes to an end,” he said.
Immigration and registration of persons departments are some of the most corrupt in Kenya, according to Transparency International and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission graft indexes.
Official data indicates that the Immigration Department issued 8,366 new permits last year, up from 5,851 in 2016 and 7,683 in 2015 and 11,360 in 2012 when the tough regulations were introduced.
