The country dropped three places to rank 31 in the 2022 Africa Visa Openness Index (AVOI), which measures how easy it is for Africans to enter one of the 54 countries on the continent covered in the study.
This marks a new low for Kenya which was ranked 28 in the prior year.
Kenya’s best ranking at 9th position came in 2018 after former President Uhuru Kenyatta implemented a visa-on-arrival policy for all Africans, a decision that was reversed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kenya requires visas from nationals of 34 countries while citizens of 19 nations on the continent are welcomed visa-free.
Kenya has no visa-on-arrival arrangement with any African country, according to the data which was captured between July and August this year.
Nairobi and Pretoria recently reached an agreement to have Kenyan citizens travel to South Africa visa-free for up to 90 days in a calendar year.
South Africans already get free visas on arrival in Kenya, while Kenyans were required to pay for the travel document besides showing proof of sufficient funds and return flight tickets.
The visa ranking measures three items – visa required before travel, visa on arrival and no visa required. Not requiring a visa has the greatest weight in the score.
See Also:
