South Africa Eases Visa Requirements for Kenyans

Kenyan students studying in South Africa will benefit from an agreement between the two states on the new visa policy.

South Africa‘s Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba on Tuesday said the decision will allow easier movement for Kenyans in to the country when he met Kenya’s Interior Minister Joseph Nkaisery

“We agreed to extend a 10 year multiple entry visa to South Africa for Kenyan business people and academics. We also informed our colleagues that Kenyan students studying in South Africa will be offered a long term visa which will be aligned to their course of study, and that those who are completing their high school studies in South Africa will be offered a long term visa so that they are able to transit to South Africa without any bureaucratic hindrances,” said the minister.

“South Africa has decided that students should get critical skills visas, and those who desire immediate permanent residency in South Africa so that they can continue to contribute to the economy of our country and that of the region. Data from Higher Education in South Africa indicates that there is an 8 percent  increase in the number of international students in South African universities most of whom are from African countries,” he added.

On Wednesday, Gigaba met the Kenyan business people in Nairobi and assured them of the new development and stressed that,” On the decision to offer permanent residency to students with critical skills visa will stop brain drain out of Africa.”

Further, the ten year visa limit for business people was strategic for the two states in increasing investment.

However, he noted that, their main concern has been security. To mitigate this, he said both countries will have airline liaison officers to minimize security lapses. “We are insisting for the need to share national data registries among countries for security reasons.”

Part of the agreement is for the two to start a joint program to stop human trafficking from horn of Africa through East Africa.

Mrs Jacinta Nzioka-Mbithi, Kenya’s Tourism Board CEO welcomed South Africa’s move and termed as Africa’s determination to integrate and trade with each other.

“On the seeming competition between Kenya and South Africa, let’s compete and also collaborate,” she said.

Initially, South Africa imposed tough rules on Kenyans seeking to visit the country, besides levying a service charge of Sh5,850 for applications while its citizens visiting Kenya currently do not require a visa if they are on transit or plan to stay for less than 30 days.

Further, Kenyans travelling to South Africa had to wait for at least seven working days for their visas to be processed.