Border control at Kenya airports: what happens to travellers and their data

Arriving: the steps at the border

Kenya's Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) portal states that all travellers to Kenya must submit information before departure. Travellers who do not comply may be denied boarding or face a penalty fee on arrival ¹.

An approved eTA must be shown at departure and on arrival. Each traveller needs an individual eTA, though groups can apply together ². At Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), travellers then go to an immigration booth. In January 2025 the Transport Cabinet Secretary ordered the number of immigration booths at JKIA doubled within 90 days ⁸.

The same order said only bags flagged by scanners would be opened, in a dedicated screening room, and that customs officers of the Kenya Revenue Authority would wear body cameras from 1 July 2025 ⁸.

Entry permission: the eTA, fees and who needs it

The eTA began in January 2024 ¹¹. The official FAQ says normal processing starts at USD 30 and takes about 72 hours, or three business days. Expedited processing costs USD 100 more and is immediate. Diplomats must complete an eTA but do not pay for the standard version ². Draft regulations reported in January 2024 had set the fee at Ksh4,600 per application ⁵.

In 2024 Kenya waived the eTA fee for nationals of several countries. On 22 February 2024 these were Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, the Republic of Congo, San Marino and South Africa. On 20 June 2024 Botswana, Eswatini, Gambia, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Zambia were added ³.

In July 2025 the Cabinet, chaired by President William Ruto, said most visitors from African and Caribbean countries no longer need a visa, eTA or entry fee. Libya and Somalia were excluded on security grounds. African nationals may stay up to two months, and East African Community citizens keep their six-month stay ⁴.

The same decision brought in a 12-hour visa-free transit visit for tourists on connecting flights, and a new passenger information system for pre-screening at entry points ⁴.

Biometrics and e-gates

eTA applicants upload a selfie or passport-style photo ². In February 2023 the Interior Ministry said it would install e-gates at JKIA and other ports of entry to cut queues ⁶.

In April 2025 Immigration Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang told a parliamentary committee that the e-gates had arrived at JKIA and installation was under way. The JKIA modernisation project covers e-gates, facial recognition, biometrics and automated processing, with plans to extend it to Moi International Airport in Mombasa and all ports of entry. Its total cost is Sh2.8 billion ⁷.

Committee chair Gabriel Tongoyo asked for a breakdown of Sh700 million already spent, which was reportedly used on a visual recognition and behavioural detection system launched in 2021 ⁷. The sources reviewed did not state who may use the JKIA e-gates or whether they are open as of 19 October 2026.

Passenger data: advance passenger information

In February 2023 Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said the ministry was at an advanced stage of acquiring an Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) to screen people entering, leaving and transiting Kenya before arrival ⁶.

Draft Kenya Citizenship and Immigration (Amendment) Regulations, 2023, reported on 5 January 2024, would require advance screening of all passengers through API, bar airlines from carrying passengers without a valid eTA, and require airlines to return anyone who arrives without one. Carriers that send wrong information would face a Ksh1.57 million penalty ⁵.

Under the draft, the data covers biographic details of passengers and crew plus flight details. It would be processed in a secure location in Kenya, depersonalised six months after receipt, and retrieved later only to prosecute a suspect for a specified offence ⁵. The sources reviewed did not confirm the final text of these regulations.

Watch lists and checks

Under the draft regulations, immigration checks passenger data against watch list databases. Where information looks doubtful, the officer refers it to a control agency for further analysis. An eTA does not guarantee entry ⁵.

The July 2025 Cabinet decision kept eTA checks for nationals of Libya and Somalia and announced pre-screening through a new passenger information system ⁴.

Your data: the Data Protection Act and how to ask for records

The Data Protection Act, 2019 set up the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner (ODPC), which regulates the processing of personal data and gives people remedies against unlawful processing ⁹.

People have the right to be informed about how their data is used, to access it, to object to processing, and to have false or misleading data corrected or deleted ¹⁰. Complaints are filed online through the ODPC complaints portal, and data breaches through a separate form ⁹.

The immigration department told Parliament in April 2025 that it carries out data protection impact assessments for eCitizen with the ODPC ¹³. The draft immigration regulations set their own six-month depersonalisation rule for passenger data ⁵.

Who runs the systems

The Directorate of Immigration Services, in the State Department for Immigration and Citizen Services under the Ministry of Interior and National Administration, runs the eTA ¹. The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) runs JKIA and its security scanners ¹⁴.

Travizory Border Security, a Swiss firm, developed the eTA system launched in January 2024, as Capital FM reported ¹². The government ended the contract in March 2025 and moved the eTA to the government's eCitizen platform. A Swiss firm that ran the eTA and passenger information platforms filed a claim against Kenya at ICSID on 16 December 2025 under the Switzerland-Kenya investment treaty. The claim alleges expropriation, and the case was pending in January 2026. The Attorney-General's office said the switch aimed to increase local control and data protection ¹¹.

eCitizen is maintained under a contract with the ECS LLC consortium of Webmasters Kenya Limited, Pesaflow Limited and Olive Tree Media Limited, which took effect on 25 May 2023 for three years (status: running) ¹³. The sources reviewed did not name a supplier for the JKIA e-gates ⁷.

Security screening on departure

In December 2025 the KAA said it was installing advanced scanners at JKIA so travellers could keep their shoes on at security checks. It plans face recognition so domestic passengers could pass checkpoints without showing an ID. No date was given for the face recognition rollout ¹⁴.

JKIA was built in 1978 for about two million passengers a year and now handles more than three times that, according to Capital FM ¹⁴. In February 2023 the government said it was improving electronic surveillance at port gates to detect prohibited items ⁶.