Kenya's Class N nomad permit is open. You can apply
BAL Immigration Law recirculated a 'Kenya | New digital nomad visa' alert dated 10 October 2024. That is not a launch notice from this week. The Directorate of Immigration Services already lists Permit Class N — Digital Nomads — on the eFNS information pack, with fees, a document checklist and an online apply path.
What Immigration publishes
The Directorate of Immigration Services keeps a Class N information pack on the government eFNS host: Application for Permit Class N: (Digital Nomads (KEP/N).). It names who may apply, the document list, the processing and issuance fees, the stay length and the steps through the Government of Kenya Single Sign-On into eFNS.
The ministry’s general Work Permits and Passes page is the brief’s starting URL. It points every permit and pass file at the same eFNS portal and cites Sections 36, 40, 41 and 42 of the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Act 2011. It does not itself reprint the Class N checklist; the Class N pack does.
This is not an announcement of a permit to come. The Kenya page already marks the programme active.
Who the Class N pack says may apply
The pack’s own wording: a person who works remotely within Kenya for a company registered outside the country, for one or two years, renewable, and who is not a prohibited immigrant. It then lists three tracks:
- work under an employment contract for a company registered outside Kenya;
- be a shareholder, or conduct business on behalf of a foreign company;
- offer services as a self-employed person to clients located outside Kenya.
Local Kenyan employment is not what this class is for. The pack’s disclaimer treats engaging in business or employment without the right permit as an offence.
The money test — and where the sources disagree
The live eFNS Class N pack asks for bank statements or payslips for the last three months proving monthly income. It does not print a numeric annual floor on that page.
Kenya Law’s consolidated Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Regulations still list Class N — Digital Nomad — in the Seventh Schedule with an assured annual income of US$55,000 from sources outside Kenya, plus remote-work proof, accommodation, a clean criminal record from the country of habitual residence, and an undertaking not to take employment for a Kenya-domiciled employer.
BAL’s October 2024 alert repeated that US$55,000 figure and said validity, cost and long-term residence pathways had not yet been confirmed. Secondary commentary since has also cited a lower figure under later amendment notices. This post does not pick a number the live Class N pack does not print. The Kenya page carries the dataset’s current reading and grades how it was obtained — low confidence while the ministry pack and the consolidated schedule are not saying the same thing.
Fees, duration, and where the file goes
From the Class N pack itself:
- processing fee US$200 (non-refundable);
- issuance fee US$1,000 per year;
- stay of one or two years, renewable.
Applications go online: create a Government of Kenya Single Sign-On account, open eFNS, submit under Permit Issuance/Renewal (Form 25), pay the invoice, and present print-outs at Immigration headquarters (Nyayo House) or a regional office for endorsement. The pack also allows presenting at Nyayo House for payment if online payment fails.
The pack’s checklist also asks for two passport photos, a valid passport copy, current immigration status if already in Kenya, signed cover letters from the applicant and from the employer/company, proof of accommodation, a letter of no objection from the home country’s local embassy, and company contact details.
“New” on the calendar
BAL’s Kenya | New digital nomad visa alert is dated 10 October 2024. It correctly framed a remote-work / freelancer route for people employed outside Kenya, and it was honest that validity and cost were still unconfirmed at the time of writing. Those operational details now sit on the eFNS Class N pack. The novelty is in the headline recirculating almost two years later, not in whether you can open a file.
If you see an official notice we have missed — especially a ministry page that reconciles the US$55,000 schedule line with the numeric silence on the Class N pack — tell us.
Everything above is taken from the Directorate of Immigration Services Class N eFNS information pack and the work-permits page, checked against Kenya Law’s consolidated regulations Class N entry on 11 October 2026, with BAL cited only as the secondary alert that recirculated.
The row behind this
Every figure this post relies on lives on a country page with its source and its confidence grade beside it. That is where it gets corrected, and where it stays current after the post stops being news.
- Kenya — Class N Digital Nomad Work Permit
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