Kenya, UK in discussions to re-establish visa office in Nairobi

Kenya is pushing Britain to move its visa-processing office to Nairobi after it was relocated from the East African capital to Pretoria in South Africa in mid-2014 on the back of a decision to downsize its overseas hubs.

In a joint press conference in Nairobi with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohamed, said the two countries were in discussions on establishing a regional visa office in the Kenyan capital.

“We discussed existing visa regulations and I requested the Foreign Secretary and the British Government to accept re-establishing the visa processing office in Nairobi to become the regional office, and ease the enormous difficulty our citizens face in obtaining visas,” Mohamed said last week.

She also highlighted the importance of tourism in Kenya, saying she was hopeful that more UK citizens will visit the country.

“We are confident that the visit of the Foreign Secretary will encourage British citizens to visit Kenya in even greater multitude as tourists,” Mohamed said.

Johnson, who was visiting Kenya and Somalia, said that more will be done to boost tourism through strategic partnerships.

“We need to see even more UK tourists coming to see this absolutely incredible country,” he said.