DRC nationals to visit Kenya visa free

Nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo will from now visit Kenya without a visa, Nairobi announced on Friday.

The new policy, Kenya says is part of continuing legal shift to accommodate the DRC’s admission into the East African Community.

A noticed issued last week to all diplomatic missions abroad as well as Kenya’s regional administrative heads had alerted officials of the imminent change in policy. It said the visa waiver will be effective from September 01.

“The government of Kenya has removed Democratic Republic of Congo from Category 2 to category 1 of the visa regulations in compliance with the East Africa Community Regulations of free movement of persons within the member states,” said the circular dated August 25.

“In this regard, Kenya has waived visa requirements for all nationals of the Democratic Republic of Congo effective September 1, 2023.”

The DRC became the seventh member of the EAC last year in May.

And though it has yet to ascend to some of the protocols including that on free movement and the customs union, Kinshasa had generally used bilateral agreements with current member states on visa. Kenyans, under that arrangement, do not need visas to the DRC.