Kenyan-Germans Cry Foul Over Visa Charges

Dual citizenship or lack thereof is contentious issue. Kenya embraced dual citizenship with its new constitution but things have pretty much been upside down since its introduction.

Sometime last year, the Ministry of foreign affairs sent out a letter to all embassies declaring that people of Kenyan descent albeit holding foreign passports would still be allowed into Kenya without a visa (Read: Kenyan Diaspora Holding Foreign Passports Exempt from Applying for Kenyan Visas ). Well that didn’t go as planned as masses streamed into Kenya during the festive season. Many Kenyans holding German passports were stopped at airports all over Kenya with the migration authorities demanding they pay for visas.

The statement by the Kenyan embassy in Berlin that read in part: “…such persons are exempted from the visa requirements, irrespective of the passports held“. Proved not to be accurate.

Kenyans who are currently returning from their holidays have been keeping the Embassy in Berlin busy as most of them call in to complain about the misunderstanding and inconvinience caused. The Embassy will be raising the issue with the Minstry of Foreign Affairs and a statement will be issued soon.

Surprisingly, most Kenyans holding German passports who travelled before the festive season had no issues with many using their Kenyan Identification Cards to enter the country without a visa. For some, a Kenyan name on a foreign passport was enough evidence to let you pass. Seems all this changed during the festive season, maybe the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just wanted to make a kill from the potentially huge “market” stream of diasporans coming home for Christmas.

On the other hand, Kenyans holding other foreign passports, read British and American, were allowed into the country without visas.