i am an american travelling to kenya via london on british air. my husband and i will be arriving in nairobi and then continuing on to mombasa. will "they" make us get visas in nairobi? we only have one hour between connections. also my daughter, when travelling from germany in september encountered difficulty when checking in as they wanted to see her visa and they did not believe she could obtain one at the airport in mombasa. she finally persuaded them and she did get one though she said she had a lengthy wait. any thoughts?

Technically, Immigration (and Visa) would be at the port of entry. This would be Nairobi. So this is where you'd have to obtain your visa.

If you have been flying direct to Mombasa would you be able to obtain the visa here on entry. Advise the Flight Attendent of your need to obtain a Visa; they're usually good about those requiring fast transfers to deplane first. Oh, and be sure your bags are thru-checked to Mombasa to avoid having to collect in NBO and recheck for the ongoing flight.

Either you have to be off the plane and down to the Visa desk as quickly as possible or send for Visa before departing the States.

If flying London-Nairobi-Mombasa, after going through immigration (where you get your visa), you have to go downstairs to baggage claim, collect your bags before going through customs and recheck them at the domestic terminal. Even if your bags are tagged to Mombasa, you have to be in possession of them when you go through customs in Nairobi and you have to go through both immigration and customs at your first port of entry.

Sounds like your daughter ran into a misinformed agent. I've only ever gotten a visa on arrival and have never had an agent question it. If you run into a problem at check-in, ask the agent to look up the passport and visa information in Timatic. It should indicate that visas can be obtained on arrival. If you're really concerned, many airline websites link to Timaticweb if you want a print out to bring with you. For example, from the BA site if you click on "IATA passports and visas", it takes you to http://www.iatatravelcentre.com/ where you can fill out the details of your trip and print out a copy of the requirements.

thanks for the info and advice--i may just send away for the visa--i just hate to give up my passport for fear i will never see it again!

Send passport*, completed application with check or money order via FedEx with a prepaid return FedEx envelope. You'll have tracking numbers and all should be returned intact.

There are still many visitors who choose to obtain their Visas ahead of time, as there are those who get them on arrival. Not many passports go missing.

*retain a copy of your passport info page