Kenya TRANSIT Visa -- When applicable?
 

I am a US citizen applying in advance for a Kenya visa. I know I can do this at the airport upon arrival, but I will be rushed to get somewhere after my plane lands and every second will count, so I am doing it in advance.

I will only be in the country less than 8 hours. My question is whether I apply for a regular visa ($50) or a transit visa ($20). It will be 3 of us, so I would like to save $90 if possible.

And of course the last thing I want to do is wait in the immigration line, just to be told I have the wrong type of visa and I have to get in line at the visa window, get the right one, and then go to the back of the immigration line again.

Does anyone know?

If you're applying for Visa ahead of time and have to send to the Embassy in Wash DC or Tourist office in NYC, call them directly for specifics. Where you are going, how long in Kenya, onto which country, how many days before re-entry to Kenya at conclusion, etc.

Where do you have to be so quickly that you can't purchase correct visa while waiting for your bags. Assume you are collecting your bags for these 8/hrs away from the airport. For the time it takes to wait for your bags, you can be purchasing the appropriate visas.

If you send for visa ahead of time and remit too little, this will only delay getting any visa. Make a phone call and get the correct info or wait till you arrive.

Thanks Sandi. I just wanted to use the resources of all the very knowledgeable people here first before making the long distance phone call.

We will not be claiming bags. We are flying Kigali-Nairobi-Paris-Houston-Dallas that day, and intend to check our bags in Kigali all the way home, and will not be claiming them again until Houston, so we will only have our carry-ons. We will be able to go directly to immigration without claimaing bags. (Also, it must be different in Kenya, because in most countries I travel to you have to clear immigration before you claim bags and go through customs.)

Our Kenya Airways flight lands in Nairobi at 3:45 p.m., and we are heading directly over to the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, hoping to get there by 5:00 (or as soon as possible) to spend as much time there before it gets dark (at 6:30). If our plane from Kigali to Nairobi is late (has Kenya Airways ever been late?) our time will be shortened more. So yes, time may very well be precious.

This will be our only visit to Kenya on this trip. We leave again that night on Kenya Airways for Paris at 11:15.

Thanks for the phone suggestion -- does anyone know the answer?

<i>has Kenya Airways ever been late?</i>

Is this a serious question? ;)

My NBO-DAR flight was slightly delayed (15-20 min), but I've read several accounts of lengthier delays particularly on intra-Africa flights.

In Kenya, you also go through immigration before baggage claim and customs. Sandi just meant that baggage off loading take so long that there's no advantage getting through immigration quickly if you have any checked bags.

A transit visa is what you need, but double check that the embassy issues these. Even if you already have visas, it may take you just as long to go through immigration as those without visas. There are separate queues for passengers with visas and passengers without and it just depends on which lines happen to be longer or shorter when you arrive.

So your whole trip is on Kenya Airways? If not, I'm not sure its possible (or at least advisable) to check your bags all the way through from Kigali to Houston.

Having just come back KGL-NBO-LHR-LAX, we picked up our bags in NBO and re-packed them for the British Airways flight to and from London. We got a transit visa in Nairobi, then went down the stairs to get our bags, then carried them over to the terminal where BA was. If we knew what we were doing in advance, it would have been a very easy task. The line for the transit visa and immigration was very short.

Are you sure the flight from KGL to NBO is actually Kenya Airways, and not a codeshare actually operated by Rwanda Air Express? I ask because that's what we were on, and I'm not sure there were multiple KGL to NBO flights.

Long story short, I would suggest to physically pick up your bags whenever you would have to trust one airline to give your bags to another airline - it's too easy for them to not do it and then blame the other airline. At NBO at least, the transit visa and immigration lines should not be too bad at the time of day that flight comes in.

Kenya Airways and Rwandair both operate daily flights between NBO and KGL. The flight that arrives at 3:45pm is on Kenya Airways metal.

sevendown -

Thanks for clarifying.

Then, as Patty indicates, you need a Transit Visa and I'm not sure these are issued beforehand.

Whether in NBO or JRO, with visa ahead or obtaining on arrival, there's either a short or long line, but has never taken more than about 20/minutes.

Thanks again all.

I certainly hope I can check my bags straight through. I'm flying Kenya Airways KGL-NBO and also NBO-CDG, then Air France CDG-IAH, then Continental IAH-DFW, all flights on the same ticket. All of these airlines are now SkyTeam members, so I'm hoping they will allow through-checking (of course I will have to clear US customs in IAH). It will really slow us down if we have to claim bags and re-check them in Nairobi (or take them with us in the car).

Patty, are you saying that you only stand in one line -- either a line for those with visas or a line for those without -- and then you're done? I was under the impression that if you did not have a visa, you went to one place (with a possible line) to get that, then you had to get in the immigration line once you had your visa. If you can get your visa and clear immigration all at the same window, then there really might not be much benefit (if any) of getting it in advance.

PS -- the question about KQ ever being late, no that was not serious. I fully expect them to be. (And not helping matters is that my particular flight stops once between KGL and NBO in Bujumbura.)

<i>Patty, are you saying that you only stand in one line -- either a line for those with visas or a line for those without -- and then you're done?</i>

Correct, you either stand in one line or the other but not both. When you buy your visa, they process your immigration at the same time and you're good to go.

I hope you make it to Sheldricks. Good luck!

If that's the case, then we may just wait. We will be in business class at the front of the plane when we get to NBO, so we will be some of the first ones to get to immigration anyway. I was just concerned that if we had to go to the visa window first, the immigration line might fill up from our 767 and we would have to get in a long line after getting our visa.

See how much you learn here! Thanks again for everyone's good information.

If you are going to be in Kenya anything less than 24 hours, you can use a transit visa. Over that you need a regular visa. Also, the Kenyan embassy or consulate here can in fact issue transit visas.

As it turns out, I had business in New York the last few days, and my hotel was about 6 blocks from the Kenyan consulate. So I had my family fill out the visa forms before I left and used the opportunity to obtain our visas in person while I was there. I obtained transit visas and the consular officer there explained the difference.

Thanks for the update. Good to know and embassy or consular office can handle Transit Visas.