Kenya eTA for Safari Travellers: Fee, Steps and Who Is Exempt

The Kenya eTA is the online electronic travel authorisation that most visitors must have approved before they fly to Kenya for a safari. The official portal, etakenya.go.ke, charges USD 30 for the standard Kenya eTA, and approval usually takes about three working days, though it can take longer. This guide covers the fee, how to apply, who is exempt, what to type in the accommodation box when you sleep in camps, and the points where the published rules are unclear.

Written by Paramount Gorilla Expeditions Team Kenya. Facts last checked 11 October 2026.

Government pages carry no update date, so the rules can change without notice. Confirm on the portal before you pay.

What the Kenya eTA is, and what it is not

The Kenya eTA, which stands for Kenya electronic travel authorisation (the same thing is often written as a Kenya travel authorization in American spelling), is an online permission tied to your passport. Kenya moved from conventional visas to this system in early January 2024, according to the sources we read. Those sources give the exact start day as 1, 4 or 5 January, so we say early January and leave it there. Visas issued before the change stay valid until they expire, according to UK FCDO advice.

Three points are worth fixing in your mind before you start the Kenya eTA application.

• It is an authorisation, not a promise of entry. Approval lets you board a flight and present yourself at the border. An immigration officer still decides at arrival, and the length of your stay is set at entry.
• It is not the East Africa Tourist Visa. That regional document is issued by Uganda or Rwanda and is a different kind of paper. One safari website lists it under the types of eTA, which is wrong in kind. We deal with how the two meet in a section further down.
• It is not insurance or a health clearance. It says nothing about medical cover. For cover on a Kenya trip, read our guide to travel insurance and medical evacuation.

Only one website should receive your passport details and your fee: the official portal at etakenya.go.ke. The Department of Immigration also has an eTA page at immigration.go.ke/eta. Many commercial sites sell help with a Kenya travel authorization, and they may add charges for something you can do yourself in minutes. The fee section below gives you the quickest test.

If you are planning a longer route that touches Kenya, our hub page on entry alerts keeps the dated warnings for all four countries in one place.

Who needs a Kenya eTA and which travellers are exempt

Kenya eTA requirements apply to nearly every foreign visitor who is not on the exempt list, including guests who come for a three-night safari. If you hold a passport from the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Canada or most of Asia, plan on applying.

Travellers the official sources list as exempt

• Kenyan citizens and residents.
• Citizens of East African Community states, for stays of up to 180 days.
• Many African nationals. A law firm alert reports that Legal Notice No. 93 of 30 May 2025 extended the exemption to most African nationals except Somalia and Libya, and to some Caribbean and Pacific states. Check your own passport on the portal's eligibility page, because lists change.
• Transit passengers who stay airside and do not pass through immigration.
• Certain diplomats.

Exempt does not always mean document-free. Exempt travellers still need a valid passport, and some may be asked for other papers at the border.

Cases that deserve a second look

The East African Community exemption is based on citizenship. We found no rule that exempts a foreign national who simply lives in Uganda or Rwanda, so a resident of one of those countries who holds another passport should ask Kenya's helpdesk before assuming anything. The same caution applies to anyone relying on a previous Kenyan visa.

Anyone holding the East Africa Tourist Visa belongs in this second-look group too. The answer is unsettled, so it has its own section below.

The portal's eligibility page is the place to test your nationality: etakenya.go.ke/eligibility. If your passport is not clearly on the exempt list, apply.

Kenya eTA fee, validity and processing time

The Kenya eTA fee depends on the type of authorisation. These are the figures published on the official portal.

The portal does not date these pages, so confirm the figure on the day you pay.

Why other websites quote USD 32.50 or USD 34

You will see a Kenya eTA fee of USD 32.50 or USD 34 on several operator and agent pages. We found neither figure on the official portal. The likely cause is a third-party service charge or a card-processing add-on, which is our inference rather than a published fact. The practical rule is simple: if the amount at checkout is higher than the official fee and the address is not etakenya.go.ke, stop.

Kenya eTA processing time

The portal says standard processing takes about 3 working days and can take longer. The UK FCDO advises applying at least 2 weeks before you travel, and we agree. A safari booking involves flights that cannot be moved easily, and airlines may refuse boarding to a passenger without an approved authorisation. There is also a reported penalty fee on arrival for travellers who turn up without one, though we have not found the amount.

Validity: 90 days from issue

The Kenya eTA is valid for 90 days from the date of issue, within which you must travel. Officers set the length of your stay at the border. This creates a timing window: apply too late and you risk missing the deadline, apply too early and the authorisation may lapse before you land. Our planners suggest applying two to four weeks before arrival, once flights and camps are confirmed.

How to apply for the Kenya eTA, step by step

Here is the process we advise for a safari traveller. The portal's own checklist is the final word, and the form can change.

1. Confirm your bookings first. You need arrival date, flight details and the name of the first lodge or camp.
2. Check your passport. It should be valid for at least six months from arrival (UK FCDO). Keep at least two blank pages to be safe: FCDO says two, and Kenya's own eTA page says one.
3. Type the address yourself. Enter etakenya.go.ke in your browser rather than clicking an advertisement.
4. Choose the right type. A safari stay is a standard eTA, not a transit one.
5. Complete the form from your passport. Copy the name, number and dates exactly as printed.
6. Pay the official fee. The amount on the checkout page should match the table above.
7. Save the approval. Keep a PDF on your phone and a printed copy in your hand luggage.
8. Check every detail on the approval. A mistyped passport number can cause trouble at check-in.

The portal lists email and WhatsApp contact options for questions. If your question is about your own situation, ask there and keep the reply.

What to enter when you sleep in camps and conservancies

Many safari guests stay in tented camps that have no street address. The published sources do not tell us what the form accepts, so this is our advice rather than a portal rule. Enter the camp or lodge name exactly as it appears on your booking voucher, and add the nearest town or the park or conservancy named on that voucher. For a trip with several Kenyan stops, enter the first night's accommodation. Carry the vouchers on your phone as well, in case an officer asks about the rest.

Transit eTA and Nairobi layovers

The transit eTA costs USD 20 on the official portal. Transit passengers who stay airside are exempt, which means they never pass through Kenyan immigration, so they have no authorisation to obtain. That covers a simple change of plane at Nairobi's main airport on the way between two other countries.

The picture changes when you leave the airside area. A safari route often brings an international flight into Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta airport and a light aircraft out of Wilson Airport, the city's second airfield. You clear immigration between the two, so our planners treat that connection as a Kenya entry and advise the standard eTA. The same applies if you sleep in Nairobi because of a late arrival.

The advice column is our planning judgement, not a published rule.

Timing matters too. Delays at Nairobi are common, so build a long buffer between an international arrival and a bush flight on the same day. Our guide to flights between safari countries sets out the connections we use.

Kenya eTA and the three-country tourist visa

This is the question that most needs a careful answer, because the published sources disagree. The East Africa Tourist Visa, known as the EATV, covers Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda for USD 100 and 90 days. It is issued by the country where you first enter the three-country area. The question is whether a traveller who holds it also needs a separate Kenya eTA.

Here is where the evidence stands on the date we checked.

Here is how we would handle it. Write to Kenya's immigration helpdesk with your passport nationality and your EATV details, and keep the reply. If Kenya is on your route and you cannot get a clear written answer before you fly, an eTA costs USD 30 and removes the risk of a problem at check-in. Whether the EATV is the right choice at all is a separate decision, and it belongs to our East Africa tourist visa guide, which gives the same answer on the exemption.

The Kenya eTA on a route through several countries

A trip that takes in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania raises questions that a single-country guide never covers. Our four-country route guide and the Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania route guide cover the order. What follows is the Kenya eTA side of it.

Entering Kenya from Uganda or Rwanda

Whatever the order, the Kenya eTA must be approved before you board the flight into Nairobi. An Entebbe to Nairobi flight takes about 1 hour 30, and the airline may check your authorisation at Entebbe. Because Kenya sits in the middle of many routes, a guest who applied at the beginning of the planning stage may find that the 90-day window has closed by the time the Kenya leg arrives. Apply once the dates are fixed, and count from the day you will land in Kenya.

Leaving Kenya and coming back

The evidence on re-entry is mixed. One embassy page says an eTA is generally single entry but that re-entry from another East African Community state is permitted. One lodge page says multiple entry applies only if the trip includes certain East African Community states. We could not settle this from official text. If your route leaves Kenya for Tanzania and returns, perhaps because your flight home goes through Nairobi, ask the helpdesk. Tell them your full itinerary on the form and keep the reply.

A route that goes into Kenya once and then on to Tanzania, with the flight home from Kilimanjaro, never returns to Kenya, so one authorisation is enough. Our 14 day four country safari and our 10 day Rwanda Kenya Tanzania safari both include a Kenya leg, so the eTA applies to them, and we confirm the order with you when we plan. If you are adding Tanzania, note that it has its own entry rule on insurance, covered in our Tanzania travel insurance guide.

Families, groups and children and the Kenya eTA

The Kenya eTA application is tied to one passport, so each traveller needs their own, and the form is filled in by or for each person. For a family or a group, one organiser can easily end up filling out ten forms, which is where typing errors creep in. We recommend that each adult checks their own approval PDF against their own passport before departure.

Do children and infants need their own?

Our approach is to apply for every traveller, children included. Sources conflict here: one independent guide lists children as both exempt and needing an eTA. We could not find an official statement on infants or on a reduced child fee. Until the portal says otherwise, allow for the full fee per person, and ask the helpdesk about infants if the amount matters to you.

Groups on one trip

• Collect passport scans early, because late scans are the main cause of last-minute applications.
• Check that names match each passport exactly, including middle names.
• Keep the approvals in one shared folder on a phone, plus paper copies with the group leader.
• Ask each traveller to confirm that their passport has six months' validity from arrival and at least two blank pages.

Our planners check the dates and lodge names you plan to enter against your itinerary, so the details match the vouchers.

Health papers and arrival checks that sit beside your Kenya eTA

The Kenya eTA does not replace health requirements. Two things to know, both time-stamped.

Yellow fever certificate

Kenya asks for a yellow fever certificate from travellers arriving from countries with yellow fever transmission risk, for age 1 and over (UK FCDO Kenya page, 30 September 2026, and the WHO list). Uganda posted a notice on 2 October 2026 saying a certificate is no longer mandatory for entry into Uganda, and UK FCDO removed its Uganda line on 8 October. Whether Kenya counts Uganda as a risk country is not stated on any official page we read. If you have a certificate, carry it. If you do not, ask your clinic or Kenya's helpdesk. Our guide to malaria, yellow fever and vaccinations covers the medical side.

Ebola and arrival health forms

Here is the state of play as of 9 to 10 October 2026, and it can change daily. Kenya confirmed its first imported Bundibugyo virus case on 6 October. The outbreak is centred on DR Congo. Uganda declared its own outbreak over on 27 August. WHO advises against travel or trade restrictions. The US State Department's Kenya guidance of July 2026 says travellers from DR Congo, South Sudan and Uganda complete an electronic health surveillance form on entry. UK FCDO notes that some countries may screen arrivals from Kenya.

Advisory levels differ by government and some pages lag behind events, so we quote none here. Read the live pages: the UK FCDO Kenya health page, the WHO outbreak notice and the CDC situation summary. Our hub keeps a dated note under health alerts.

Common mistakes with the Kenya eTA

This guide suits safari guests from non-exempt countries who are planning a Kenya leg, whether alone, as a family or as part of a longer route. These are the errors worth avoiding, and each is easy to prevent.

• Using an agent site. A checkout total of USD 32.50 or USD 34 means you are not on the official site. Close it and type etakenya.go.ke.
• Applying too early. The authorisation lasts 90 days from issue to travel, so one approved six months before the trip may have lapsed.
• Applying too late. Processing takes about three working days or longer, and the UK FCDO advises two weeks. Airlines may refuse boarding without approval.
• Treating the regional visa as settled. The exemption question is open, and a blog statement is not an official one.
• Typing the passport number wrongly. One wrong character can cause a mismatch at check-in.
• Assuming a Nairobi night is airside. Leaving the airport is a Kenya entry, and you should hold a standard eTA.
• Filing one application for a family. Each traveller needs their own.
• Reading approval as permission to enter. The officer at the border still decides.

What most pages get wrong about the Kenya eTA

Our reading of the competing pages found four recurring errors. Fees of USD 32.50 and USD 34 are quoted as if official, though neither is on the portal. Start dates appear as 1, 4 and 5 January 2024, when the safe statement is early January. Several pages say no eTA is needed for the regional visa without citing an official source. And at least one page lists the regional visa as a type of eTA, which mixes two different documents. We have tried to avoid all four, and we flag where a point is our inference.

Next steps: plan your trip around the Kenya eTA

Start with the dates, because the Kenya eTA follows them. Once your flights and camps are confirmed, you can apply on the official portal, usually two to four weeks before you arrive. If you hold the East Africa Tourist Visa or are unsure about your nationality, write to the helpdesk first.

A short checklist keeps the process calm: fix your dates, check passport validity and blank pages, confirm your nationality on the eligibility page, apply on etakenya.go.ke only, save the approval offline, and compare every detail with your passport. If any step raises a question, ask the helpdesk before you pay rather than after you land.

For the rest of your entry paperwork, read our guide to visa requirements for five destinations, and combining Kenya and Tanzania if your plan crosses that border. Our three-country route guide shows how the entry steps fit together. If Kenya is only part of the trip, our 8 day Rwanda Kenya safari includes a Kenya leg, so the eTA applies to it.

The eTA is one of the fixed entry costs on a Kenya route. Our four country safari cost guide shows it beside the permits, park fees, visas and Tanzania insurance.