Kenyan Denied Visa For a Second Internship in Germany

A Kenyan graduate planning to come for a internship in Germany for a second time has seen his visa requested denied.

Kelvin Saitoto Somoire, a 21 year old Kenyan was in Eckernförder for a internship in 2011. After his internship he returned to Kenya and subsequently graduated from the University of Nairobi in December 2013.

Considering he got a scholarship for the US starting January 2015, he decided to come to Germany for another internship as he awaits the move to the US. His internship in Germany was to start earlier this year and was only to be for 2 months.

The German Embassy denied his application on grounds that he plans to be an economic refugee in Germany, he has no wife, no kids, no job and he only earns €100 per month for the internship. According to the embassy, Kelvin lacked an explanation of how he would sustain himself after the internship when he returned to Kenya considering he had already graduated.

His sponsor, a doctor from Eckernförder, Karin Jatzkewitz, was shocked by the rejection. It had been no problem getting the visa in 2011. She was so sure Kelvin would get the visa that she had already booked the flight. She has had to change the flight date thrice. She then decided to write to the Ministerpräsident of Schleswig-Holstein with the hopes of a resolution with the German embassy in Nairobi. At the time of writing this, the Ministerpräsident had called Dr. Jatzkewitz to inform her that he was in touch with the embassy.

Regardless of the result from this process, Kelvin already knows what he plans to do with himself. Come January 2015, he will start his Masters in the US and he plans to return to Kenya afterwards to work on ways to improve tourism in Kenya.