Hundreds of Burundians lined up outside their embassy in Nairobi on Monday, seeking travel documents to go home after President William Ruto ordered a crackdown on small scale traders from abroad.
Most in the queue were young men, some clutching suitcases, others carrying whatever they could fit into a single bag.
Why traders are heading for the exit
Ruto issued the order last week after meeting Kenyan traders who had been protesting a hike in import duty. He told authorities to shut down all small scale businesses run by foreign nationals, with enforcement due to start Monday. Kenya’s trade ministry later clarified that the directive targets foreigners operating without work permits.
No visible crackdown took place in Nairobi on the day itself. Even so, several Burundians outside the embassy said neighbours had threatened them since Ruto’s remarks became public.
The UN refugee agency counts about 16,000 Burundian refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya. Many run small businesses in Nairobi, selling coffee, second hand clothes and similar goods.
A pattern beyond one directive
Critics say Ruto is using foreign traders as a scapegoat for a struggling economy ahead of next year’s election, when he stands for a second term. Writing in the Daily Nation, activist Hanifa Adan put it: “When a state runs out of answers for a collapsing economy, it invariably goes looking for an enemy.”
The order against small traders follows a separate move against foreign capital. Last Thursday, Ruto directed India’s Tata Chemicals to end its operations in Kenya, arguing the company’s presence had not benefited the country. Tata Chemicals said it respected the government’s authority and remained open to further engagement.
The government’s official line
Kenya has spent recent weeks raising concern that foreigners are using visa free entry, investor status or tourist status to work, trade and run retail businesses without permits. Investments, Trade and Industry Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui addressed the issue directly in a statement, warning that entering Kenya without a visa carries no automatic right to work.
“Visa free entry or exemption from eTA requirements does not in itself confer the right to engage in employment, trade or business in Kenya,” Kinyanjui said. He added that violators face consequences: “Persons found in contravention of the applicable visa provisions will have their visas revoked in accordance with the law.”
Kenya dropped visa requirements for visitors worldwide two years ago and removed eTA requirements for most African nationals in January 2025, changes the government framed as support for tourism, investment and regional integration. Kinyanjui said some visitors had used that openness to work or trade outside the terms of their entry status.
Ruto has argued Kenya needs to protect opportunities for traders at the lower end of the economy, while still welcoming foreign investors who bring capital, technology and jobs rather than compete for small business income.
The government also moved to reassure citizens of East African Community states that enforcement would respect Kenya’s regional commitments. Kenya belongs to the EAC and has signed up to free movement of people and goods under the bloc’s Customs Union and wider integration framework. Existing immigration rules already set out a permit route for EAC citizens who want to live, work, trade or run a business in Kenya.
Visited the Embassy of Burundi to engage with Burundi nationals and assure them of government support towards ensuring they are documented or voluntarily repatriated. pic.twitter.com/eCNjUkx6JK
— Korir Sing’Oei (@SingoeiAKorir) September 7, 2026
How EAC traders can regularise their status
For East African nationals already doing small business in Kenya, the government points to an existing legal route rather than a new one. Under regulations gazetted in December 2024 and rolled out through 2025, Kenya introduced a Class R permit built specifically for citizens of EAC states: Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Somalia, alongside Kenya itself as the host country.
The application runs through the eFNS portal on eCitizen. Applicants complete Form 25 online, then print and submit signed copies with supporting documents in person at Directorate of Immigration Services offices, including Nyayo House in Nairobi. Required documents typically include a valid passport, a cover letter setting out the applicant’s activity, a KRA PIN for anyone running a business, and, in some cases, a police clearance certificate.
The permit itself carries no cost. Both the application and issuance fees for Class R are set at zero. A separate charge applies for Alien Registration, the process that produces a Foreigner Certificate for anyone resident in Kenya beyond 90 days, though the exact figure is unsettled: Kenya’s 2025 Immigration Service Delivery Charter lists the fee at KSh5,000 a year, while the Directorate’s own current webpage puts it at KSh1,000 a year or part thereof. Applicants should confirm the amount generated by the eFNS payment system at the point of application rather than relying on either published figure.
Class R sits within a wider set of reforms rolled out under the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Amendment Regulations, 2024, which Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi announced in his capacity overseeing Interior affairs. The regulations also created new categories such as the Class N Digital Nomad permit and a Class P permit for diplomatic and international staff.
What the EAC treaty actually promises
The legal basis for the Class R route sits in the EAC Common Market Protocol, which Partner States signed in 2009. Article 7 of the Protocol commits members to guarantee “the free movement of persons who are citizens of the other Partner States,” subject to limits on public policy, security and health grounds. A separate article extends that commitment to labour specifically, requiring EAC states to align their labour policies so workers can move and take up employment across the bloc.
That treaty language covers all eight current members: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia, the last of which joined in March 2024. For a Burundian trader with a valid EAC passport, the regulation gives that treaty right a concrete administrative form, a permit that costs nothing to obtain but still requires paperwork, patience and a trip to Nyayo House to finish.
Whether that route reaches the crowd outside the Burundian embassy this week is a separate question. Many said they had lived in Kenya for years without registering at all, and for them, the choice on Monday was not between permits and informality. It was between staying to face an uncertain enforcement date, or queuing for a travel document and going home.
