Kenya eTA Guide
Kenya eTA for UK Citizens 2026 – Fee & Requirements
For UK Citizens
Do UK citizens need a Kenya eTA in 2026? Yes. Full fee breakdown, required documents, processing times, and the rejection reasons we catch before you submit.
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Why Visit Kenya?
British travelers choose Kenya for Maasai Mara safaris, Indian Ocean beaches at Diani and Mombasa, Nairobi business, and family holidays. Direct and one-stop routes run from London with onward connections from regional airports.
A single trip can take in Nairobi National Park, the Mara, Amboseli, Lake Naivasha, and the coast. The longer and more complex the itinerary, the more important it is that your travel dates and accommodation details stay consistent across every document.
Documents Required
Prepare clear digital files before you apply. The most common delays come from unreadable scans, cropped photos, incomplete accommodation details, or travel dates that do not match the supporting documents.
British Passport
Your passport should usually be valid for at least six months from your planned date of entry and should match the name entered in the ETA form.
Digital photo
Use a recent color photo with a plain background. Avoid glare, filters, heavy shadows, hats, or glasses that hide the face.
Accommodation or host details
Provide hotel booking details, lodge confirmation, host address, or business contact information in Kenya where applicable.
Travel itinerary
Keep your arrival date, departure date, airline booking, and local travel plan consistent across your documents.
Kenya ETA Fees
All fees include the official government charge and a service fee. Choose the processing speed that fits your travel timeline.
Standard
$64
$35 gov. fee + $29 service fee
Processing: 72 Hours
Urgent
$98
$69 gov. fee + $29 service fee
Processing: 24 Hours
Super Urgent
$149
$100 gov. fee + $49 service fee
Processing: 4 Hours
Processing Time and Entry Rules
Most complete Kenya ETA applications are reviewed within a few days, but timing depends on document quality, travel season, public holidays, payment confirmation, and whether extra checks are required.
Approval does not replace normal border checks. On arrival, travelers may still need to show a valid passport, ETA approval, return or onward ticket, accommodation details, and funds for the stay.
Common Rejection Reasons
Blurred passport image: Upload a full, readable bio page without cut edges or glare.
Name mismatch: The ETA name should match the passport, including surname order and spelling.
Weak travel proof: Missing hotel, host, business, or itinerary details can slow review.
Late application: Applying too close to departure increases stress if extra checks are requested.
Travel Tips
Save your ETA approval offline and print a backup copy. Keep passport, return ticket, accommodation, travel insurance, and local contact details together in your hand luggage.
For first-time visitors, the best time depends on your route. Wildlife viewing is popular from July to October, beach holidays are strong around Diani and Mombasa for much of the year, and Nairobi works well for business travel year-round.
Detailed Application Guidance for United Kingdom Citizens
Confirm you still need an eTA before relying on any travel article claiming Britain is exempt — the official list is the only reliable source. Count passport validity from your arrival date. Enter hyphenated and double-barrelled surnames exactly as they appear in your passport's machine-readable zone. Check yellow fever requirements against your transit route.
After submission, monitor your email for status updates and requests for corrections. If a correction is requested, respond with the exact document requested rather than resubmitting unrelated files. Keep your payment receipt, application reference, and travel documents together until you have entered Kenya.
Before applying
Confirm passport validity, photo quality, travel dates, accommodation details, email address, and payment method.
After applying
Track the application, check email regularly, and save the approval as both a digital and printed copy.
At arrival
Carry your United Kingdom passport, ETA approval, return ticket, accommodation proof, and local contact details.
Need help?
Support is available by phone and WhatsApp for document checks, payment help, and status updates.
Internal Guides
Kenya Safari GuideBest Time to Visit KenyaMasai Mara National Reserve GuideDocument RequirementsTrack ApplicationCustomer Review
I'd read three different sites saying UK passports no longer needed one. The review team set me straight and had my documents checked the same day.
Sarah T., Manchester
Full Guide for United Kingdom Citizens
UK citizens still need a Kenya eTA in 2026. Despite widespread reports that Britain was added to Kenya's exemption list, the United Kingdom does not appear on any exemption list published by the Directorate of Immigration Services under the 2025 Amendment Rules. British passport holders must apply before travel; Kenya does not issue the eTA on arrival.
Data sourced from the Kenya Directorate of Immigration Services — Amendment Rules, 2025.
Are UK citizens exempt from the Kenya eTA? No.
This needs saying plainly, because a lot of published travel advice currently says otherwise.
Kenya's 30 May 2025 amendment did expand eTA exemptions substantially. Most African nationals became exempt, along with a list of around forty other countries. That change was widely covered, and much of the coverage over-generalised it into "Western countries are now visa-free for Kenya."
The United Kingdom is not on the exemption list. Neither is Canada, Australia, or most of the European Union. The countries granted ninety-day exemptions include Barbados, Belize, Botswana, Brunei, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji, Jamaica, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, San Marino, Singapore, South Africa, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, and a number of Pacific and Caribbean states. Britain is absent from it.
The one UK-specific exemption is narrow: serving members of the British Military. Everyone else applies.
If you have read otherwise, check the source date and check it against the official portal. Boarding a flight on the strength of an out-of-date blog post ends at the check-in desk.
What the Kenya eTA costs for UK citizens
The standard fee is $64 total ⚠️VERIFY, covering the government charge plus document review. Urgent ($98) and super-urgent ($149) review tiers are available ⚠️VERIFY.
The government fee is paid by you directly on etakenya.go.ke. Our fee is for reviewing your documents before you submit. We do not submit your application and we do not pay the government fee for you. Card payments on the official portal may attract an additional bank surcharge.
Documents British applicants need
- A valid British passport with at least six months validity remaining and at least one blank page
- A selfie or passport-type photograph
- Contact details — email and phone
- Travel itinerary showing arrival and departure
- Accommodation booking confirmation, or your host's address in Kenya
- A payment method
Business travel adds a company invitation letter and the Kenyan company's registration copy. Conferences require the invitation or participation letter. Family visits need a host invitation letter plus the host's ID, passport, alien card, or entry permit.
Processing times
The official portal states processing typically takes three working days, and may take longer. Apply at least a week before you fly. British travelers booking around the summer holidays, half-term, or Christmas should allow more time, since volumes rise in all three windows.
Our review tiers describe how quickly we check your documents and return corrections to you. They do not speed up government processing.
Common rejection reasons for UK applicants
Double-barrelled and hyphenated surnames. These are frequently entered inconsistently between the passport, the flight booking, and the eTA form. The application must match the passport's machine-readable zone exactly.
Passport validity counted from the wrong date. Six months is measured from your date of entry into Kenya, not your application date.
Photo failures. Glare, glasses that obscure the eyes, shadows, filters, and patterned backgrounds are the common causes. Use a recent colour photo in even light against a plain background.
Unreadable passport scans. Automated reading misreads poor scans, and a mismatch between scanned and typed data triggers a manual review.
Travel dates that don't line up. Arrival and departure in the form must match the flight booking and the hotel reservation.
Vague accommodation details. Provide the property name and address, or the host's full address — not a city.
Yellow fever documentation. Required when arriving from or transiting an endemic country. A direct flight from the UK doesn't trigger it, but certain connections do.
What our review covers
We check passport validity against your actual entry date, exact name matching against the machine-readable zone, photo specification, scan legibility, and the internal consistency of your travel dates and accommodation details — all before you submit anything.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The United Kingdom is not on any Kenya eTA exemption list published under the 2025 Amendment Rules, despite widespread reports to the contrary. British passport holders must apply before travel.
No. The 30 May 2025 amendment expanded exemptions to most African nationals and around forty other countries — Britain was not among them. Much of the coverage of that change over-generalised it. The only UK-specific exemption covers serving British Military members.
The standard fee is $64 total ⚠️VERIFY, covering the government charge plus document review. Urgent ($98) and super-urgent ($149) tiers are available ⚠️VERIFY. The government fee is paid by you directly on etakenya.go.ke.
The official portal states processing typically takes three working days and may take longer. Apply at least a week ahead, and earlier around summer holidays, half-term, and Christmas.
Most commonly: hyphenated or double-barrelled surnames entered inconsistently, passport validity counted from the application date instead of the arrival date, photo specification failures, and travel dates that don't match flight and hotel bookings.
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