Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has resorted to issuing visas on arrival to inbound travellers.
“There is currently a challenge in the Government e-citizen platform, which is impacting processing of e-visa,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
“Therefore, travellers will be issued a visa upon arrival at all entry points to Kenya.”
We are currently experiencing a challenge in the @eCitizenKenya platform which is impacting the processing of e-visas. We have advised all airlines to onboard all travellers destined to 🇰🇪 on the understanding that they will be issued visa upon arrival at all entry points to 🇰🇪
— Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Kenya (@ForeignOfficeKE) July 27, 2023
It also advised all airlines to onboard travellers destined for the country.
Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communication and the Digital Economy, Eliud Owalo, confirmed that the eCitizen platform was recently subjected to a cyber-attack.
Owalo acknowledged the hacking incident that was reported earlier in the week. He stated that cyber-attacks are a common occurrence worldwide and that the government was taking steps to address the issue.
In addition to implementing immediate measures to mitigate the current situation, Owalo revealed that the government was working on developing a comprehensive risk mitigation framework to prevent future attacks.
“There was an attack. We are addressing that, we are not just coming up with instant remedial measures to address the current situation, we will build an elaborate risk mitigation framework.”
The National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4) said it had established that an “increased/abnormal global internet traffic targeted at several CIIs in Kenya aimed at disrupting essential services, particularly in the telecommunications, banking, and Education Sectors. This traffic constitutes a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.”
The Kenyan government announced that starting in January 2021, all eligible citizens were required to apply for a Kenya eVisa to visit the country. This new policy waas aimed at streamlining the visa application process.
The eVisa can be applied online and is expected to save time and effort for both travellers and immigration officials.
This was a significant change from the previous policy, where travellers could obtain a visa on arrival at the port of entry.
e-visa types
There are three e-visa types for people travelling to the Republic of Kenya temporarily.
Single Entry visa: Issued for a single entry to persons whose nationalities require a visa to enter Kenya either for business, tourism or medical reasons.
Transit visa: Issued to persons connecting through Kenya to other destinations for a period not exceeding 72 hours. Those connecting flights directly without leaving the airport don’t need to apply for Transit visas.
Courtesy visa: Issued to Diplomatic, Official and Service passport holders coming into the country on official duties, or transiting through Kenya to a third country for official business or duties. It is also issued to government officials and dignitaries on official duties but holding ordinary passports. It is issued free of charge / gratis.
