Kenya: Mandatory foreign work permit verification exercise

published on May 29, 2018

The Government of Kenya has formally launched a widely publicized mandatory 60-day period during which all work permit holders must undergo a physical verification where their already issued work permits will be audited, the process essentially being a confirmation of correct status for each permit holder.

The exercise commenced on 21 May 2018 and will come to an end on 28 July 2018. By the end of the deadline, all foreigners who have not attended the Immigration office to undergo the verification will be deemed to be in Kenya illegally as they will be deemed not to hold valid permission to be in the country.

The reason for the verification exercise is to curb illegal foreign nationals in Kenya who do not hold valid and or legal work permits. We also sense that the crackdown is also intended to check tax compliance by work permit holders as a KRA PIN is required as part of the documentation required to be submitted for each permit holder.

The audit or verification exercise will also involve the issuance of an electronic work permits (E-Permit) to those whose permit-holders who will have undergone verification and been successfully verified.

How to Comply with the Verification

1. Holders of all classes of permits, with the only exceptions being Special Passes, Student and Internship Passes, Dependant Passes, Visitors and Business visas, are required to comply with this mandatory verification exercise.

• Original Work permit
• Valid official endorsement of the work permit on the passport
• Valid Alien ID card
• Official payment receipt for the issuance fee of the permit held;
• KRA PIN.

  
Once the verification is completed, we understand that foreign nationals who have been successfully verified will have their passports stamped with a ‘verified’ stamp, and their E-Permits will follow.

  
This is a very important exercise for all foreign nationals in Kenya, and we urge all relevant permit holders to attend to it urgently. Our experience to date, only 3 days since the commencement of the exercise, is that the queues for this verification exercise at Nyayo House are already quite long, hence it is necessary to attend the verification immediately, well ahead of the deadline.