Kenya announced a while ago that they were going to start submitting applications online, well the time has come. What a pleasure it is for immigration and visa companies that has to submit these, no more standing in long queues and spending a large amount of hours at the submission offices. Now it is as easy as pressing the submit button online in the convenience of your office or comfort of your own home.
Operational changes:
The Directorate of Immigration Services (DIS) has launched the issuance of e-visas and e-passes to replace the folio issued permits, visas and passes.
On payment of Government fees, the e-visas and e-passes will be processed and accessed through the eFNS portal.
To eliminate malpractices and fraud, the e-visas and e-passes will contain a unique barcode number tagged to each application, which shall be verifiable at any point of entry and the DIS.
The physical endorsement of immigration authorization remains unchanged.
Expectations:
Increased efficiency in the immigration authorization process as well as reduced processing time for types of all immigration authorization.
Challenges:
Delays may be experienced due to systems being down.
Difference between the old and the new:
There is a significant change in the application process since all applications will now be submitted online. This makes it a much quicker submission that will take a massive amount of time off your hands!
No application need to be submitted in paper form anymore, unless Immigration requests for additional documents! In the event where they ask for additional documentation, you will then have to submit it at the immigration office.
How these changes will affect our work at IBN, as well as other industries submitting applications:
This will definitely make the work easier by saving time on printing so many documents to submit at the Immigration office, as well as save money on stationary and taxi fares going to the Immigration office for submission.
You will not have to face the long lines due to congestion at the Immigration office when you have to submit visas(permits) and passes, hence you sit at the comfort of your office / at home, when submitting the application.
The other great thing is that it won’t be necessary to send any original documents to Kenya since they will accept clear scanned copies of the application.
How does it effect applicants, what are the pro and cons?
The only issue that has been flagged is the EFNS system that sometimes jams and you can not upload documents.
One of the other negative issues are that you now spend a lot of time on the phone with immigration requesting them to assist you with anything you might struggle with or do not understand on the system.
Assignee will still have to pay for the visa when you enter the country because the E-visa still has to be endorsed into the passport to enable him/her to travel freely in and out of the country. So even though the paperwork became less, the fees for the Visas will stay the same, regardless of it being online.
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By Sylvia Waiganjo
