Kenya eTA for Indian Citizens 2026 – Fee & Requirements

The Kenya eTA is mandatory for Indian passport holders — India is not on Kenya's exemption list, and Kenya does not issue the eTA on arrival. The standard fee is $64 total ⚠️VERIFY, and the government's stated processing time is three working days. Required documents: passport with six months validity, a recent digital photo, travel itinerary, and accommodation confirmation.

Data sourced from the Kenya Directorate of Immigration Services — Amendment Rules, 2025.

Do Indian citizens need a Kenya eTA in 2026?

Yes. Indian passport holders must hold an approved Electronic Travel Authorisation before boarding a flight to Kenya. India does not appear on any of the exemption lists published by the Directorate of Immigration Services under the 2025 Amendment Rules. The only Indian nationals exempt are holders of Indian diplomatic, official, or service passports, who may enter for stays not exceeding ninety days.

Kenya abolished traditional visas in January 2024 and replaced them with the eTA. There is no visa on arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Moi International Airport, or any land border. Airlines check for an approved eTA at check-in, and travelers without one are denied boarding.

What the Kenya eTA costs for Indian citizens

The standard fee is $64 total ⚠️VERIFY, which covers the government charge plus our document review service. Faster tiers are available: $98 for urgent and $149 for super-urgent processing ⚠️VERIFY.

An important distinction: the government fee is paid directly by you on the official portal at etakenya.go.ke. Our fee covers the review of your documents before you submit — it is separate from, and additional to, the government charge. We do not submit your application and we do not pay the government fee for you.

Credit card payments on the official portal attract an additional bank surcharge. Budget for it rather than being surprised by it at the payment step.

Documents Indian applicants need

The Directorate of Immigration Services requires six items from every applicant:

• A valid Indian passport with at least six months validity remaining and at least one blank page
• A selfie or passport-type photograph
• Contact details — a working email address and phone number
• Your travel itinerary showing arrival and departure dates
• Accommodation booking confirmation, or your host's address in Kenya
• A payment method

Traveling for business adds two more: an invitation letter from the Kenyan company and a copy of that company's registration. Visiting family requires an invitation letter from your host plus a copy of their ID, passport, alien card, or entry permit. Attending a conference requires the invitation or participation letter. Medical travel requires a referral letter from the hospital.

How long processing actually takes

The official portal states that processing typically takes three working days and may take longer in some cases. Plan around that number, not around the fastest anecdote you find online.

Apply at least seven to ten days before departure. Indian travelers booking during Diwali, the December holidays, or the summer school break should allow longer — application volumes rise and so do queues. Applying early costs nothing; applying late has cost travelers their flights.

Our review tiers describe how quickly we check your documents and return corrections to you. They do not speed up the government's own processing, and no legitimate service can promise that.

Common rejection reasons for Indian applicants

These are the errors that cause the most delays and rejections. Every one is avoidable before submission.

Name mismatches. Indian passports often carry a given name and surname split differently from how the name appears on flight bookings or in the eTA form. The name on your application must match the machine-readable zone of your passport exactly — same spelling, same order, no initials expanded or contracted.

Photo problems. Glare, filters, shadows across the face, hats, and glasses that obscure the eyes all cause rejections. Use a recent colour photo against a plain background, in even light.

Blurred passport scans. A scan that a human can read is not automatically a scan the system can read. Poor scans cause optical character recognition to misread the passport number, date of birth, or expiry date, and a mismatch between the scanned data and the typed data triggers a review.

Passport validity under six months. Counted from your date of entry into Kenya, not from your application date.

Inconsistent travel dates. Arrival and departure dates in the form must match the flight booking and the hotel reservation. A hotel booked for dates that don't overlap the stated travel window is one of the most common flags.

Incomplete accommodation details. "Hotel in Nairobi" is not an accommodation detail. Provide the property name and address, or your host's full address.

Payment failures. Card declines on the official portal are common for Indian cards, particularly where international transactions are not enabled. Enable international usage on your card before you start, and keep the payment receipt.

What our review actually does

We check your documents against the requirements before you submit anything. That means verifying passport validity against your entry date, checking that the name on your form matches your passport's machine-readable zone exactly, assessing whether your photo meets the specification, confirming your scans are legible enough to survive automated reading, and checking that your travel dates and accommodation details are internally consistent.

You then submit and pay on the official government portal yourself. We are a private document review service and are not affiliated with the Government of Kenya.

Flying to Kenya from India

Direct and one-stop routes to Nairobi run from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, most commonly connecting through Gulf hubs. Many Indian travelers combine Kenya's Maasai Mara and Amboseli with the coast at Diani or Mombasa, or extend into Tanzania. If your itinerary includes re-entry into Kenya after visiting an EAC country, check whether your single-entry eTA still covers your return before you travel.

Yellow fever vaccination certificates are required when arriving from or transiting through a yellow fever endemic country. Travelers flying directly from India are not normally affected, but a transit through an endemic country can change that.