🇰🇪 Kenya Visa Guide for Indian Passport Holders

At a glance

Indian passport holders need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) to visit Kenya for tourism or business — Kenya replaced its entire previous visa and eVisa system with the eTA on 5 January 2024. Every visitor, including infants and children, needs an approved eTA before departure; there is no visa-on-arrival or paper visa option anymore.

Visa requirement for an Indian passport holder

An eTA is required for every visit. Kenya's exemption list covers citizens of the East African Partner States (Burundi, DR Congo, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda) and a separate list of roughly 30-plus other specific nationalities (including, for example, Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia, and South Africa) — India is not on this exemption list, so Indian passport holders must obtain an eTA for every visit, regardless of purpose.

Choose your purpose of travel

The same eTA system covers tourism, business, family visits, and other purposes — you specify your purpose of visit during the application, and may need to provide purpose-specific supporting documents (see checklist below).

Where and how to apply

• Apply only through the official portal: etakenya.go.ke, or the official "Kenya Travel Authorisation" mobile application — the Directorate of Immigration Services is explicit that this is the only official channel and warns against third-party sites.
• Apply before departure — you cannot obtain an eTA on arrival.

iamravi.com is not affiliated with the Government of Kenya, the Directorate of Immigration Services, or any Kenyan diplomatic mission. All application, payment, and approval steps happen on the official etakenya.go.ke platform or the official mobile app — never here.

Eligibility and passport conditions

Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months beyond your planned date of arrival in Kenya, with at least one blank page.

Application steps

1. Go to the official eTA portal and start your application — each traveller, including infants and children, needs their own individual eTA (or apply as a group for multiple travellers on the same trip).
2. Provide your personal, passport, and travel itinerary details, including your accommodation booking confirmation.
3. Upload a selfie or passport-style photo.
4. Pay the eTA fee using a credit or debit card, or other accepted payment method, through the official portal.
5. Wait for a decision from an immigration officer — you'll receive an email confirming receipt of your application, and a separate email confirming the outcome (approval or refusal).
6. Save your approved eTA — download the PDF, save it to your mobile device, or store it in the official Kenya Travel Authorisation app. You'll need to show it at both departure and arrival.

Forms required

The entire eTA application is completed through the official online portal or mobile app — there is no separate paper form.

Document checklist

Per the Directorate of Immigration Services' own published requirements: a valid passport (6+ months' validity, 1+ blank page), a selfie or passport-style photo, your contact details, your arrival/departure itinerary, accommodation booking confirmation, and a payment method. Depending on your purpose of visit, you may also need: a referring doctor/hospital letter (medical travel), a conference invitation or participation letter, an employment contract, or — for business travellers specifically — an invitation letter from the inviting company and a copy of that company's registration; for those visiting family, an invitation letter from your host plus a copy of their identity document or residence status in Kenya.

Fees

The eTA fee is collected as part of the online application through the official portal's payment step and is non-refundable. We were not able to independently confirm the exact current fee from the primary etakenya.go.ke or immigration.go.ke pages during this review — multiple independent secondary sources consistently report a standard single-entry eTA fee of USD 30, with the same figure reported for multiple-entry and transit eTAs, but you should confirm the amount actually shown to you within the official application portal before paying, rather than relying on any third-party-quoted figure, including this one.

Processing information

Processing typically takes 3 working days, though the Directorate's own guidance notes it may take longer in some cases. Apply with enough lead time before your trip, and don't finalise non-refundable travel plans until your eTA is approved.

Common mistakes

• Assuming Kenya still offers visa-on-arrival or the older eVisa system — both have been fully replaced by the eTA since January 2024.
• Applying through a third-party website rather than the official etakenya.go.ke portal or app.
• Forgetting that each traveller, including infants, needs their own individual eTA and fee.
• Assuming a fixed fee figure without confirming it in the official application flow.

Official links

• Official Kenya eTA portal
• Directorate of Immigration Services — eTA Services
• Directorate of Immigration Services — How to Apply