I know it has been awhile from the last time I blogged about the e-visa. I have received numerous inquiries on the application for e-visa for Kenya.

Some of the common questions are: My application says issued? What does that mean? Another common one is; I stated in my application that I will enter the country through Jomo Kenyatta Airport but for some reason I will now use Mombasa Airport…what happens? Another one is… I made an error in the date format or year of birth…will that affect my application?…and so on and so forth.

Today I will try to help you in understanding a few basic things about the e-visa process for Kenya:

1. The manual system is still open to nationals of countries allowed to get a visa on arrival. All referred visa nationals can not apply online ( please check eligibility here http://evisa.go.ke/eligibility.html). So if for one reason or the other you are not able to apply the online visa, you can still fly into Kenya and get it at the point of arrival.
2. We all make errors in such systems. Unless such an error is fundamental, it should really not worry you. Kenya Immigration officers are some of the most understanding in the whole world. They will listen to you if you make sense ready to explain in clear terms.
3. Once your e-visa is issued, you can travel to Kenya and be allowed through any point of entry if your reasons of doing so are justified. Remember routing is critical for Immigration officer when interviewing you…for instance if your flight is diverted to another airport for some reasons, surely that makes sense…and a few others.
4. After you have made the application, paid and your visa is approved, the e-visa system will read issued not approved. If you see issued please log into your system and go to downloads… where you will see these tabs: view, print invoice and print single entry. Please click on print single entry and what you see is your visa for Kenya….you may now travel.
5. Multiple journey Visa ( MJV) CANNOT be applied for through the e-visa system…not yet! This has to be applied from Kenyan Embassies near you.

I hope these 5 points will make your application bearable.