Visa requirements for Kenyan citizens

Kenyan citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Kenya and 66 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

132 countries ask holders of the Kenyan passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Kenya without one: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola and 127 others.

90 countries ask holders of the Kenyan passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 37 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Kenya, and 1 also takes applications through a visa application centre there (Canada).

53 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Kenya, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Kenya, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Ethiopia (4) and South Sudan (2).

The United States refused 68% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Kenya in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 180 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 16 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Schengen consulates in Kenya refused 33% of short-stay visa applications in 2025 (all Schengen consulates worldwide: 15%). Among the 74 countries where they received at least 10,000 applications, that is the 18th highest rate. The figure counts every nationality applying there, not only citizens.

Visa-free travel with the Kenyan passport

By continent, the Kenyan passport is visa-free in 20 countries in Africa, 10 countries in the Americas, 4 countries in Asia and 4 countries in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Kenyan citizens are allowed in Ethiopia (360 days), Antigua and Barbuda (180 days), Barbados (180 days), Dominica (180 days), Rwanda (180 days) and Fiji (120 days).

Visa on arrival

Kenyan citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Cambodia, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia and 19 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Kenyan citizens enter Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and 35 others. Ivory Coast, Papua New Guinea and Saint Kitts and Nevis ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Kenya’s neighbours

Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Sudan and Uganda admit Kenyan citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: Somalia (e-Visa).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Tanzanian passport ranks 127th (67 destinations), the Ugandan passport ranks 135th (63 destinations), the Ethiopian passport ranks 180th (43 destinations), the South Sudanese passport ranks 181st (42 destinations) and the Somali passport ranks 195th (33 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 77 can enter visa-free and 121 need an ETA for Kenya.