Kenya has exempted Ghanaian travelers from the requirement to pay the Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) fee when applying for the document.
Announcing the news, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ghana said that citizens of the country will now only have to apply for the document before entering Kenya but will not have to make any payment, VisaGuide.World reports.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration wishes to inform the public that the Republic of Kenya, in recognition of the existing visa-free regime agreement, has informed that Ghanaian travelers will now be issued an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) on gratis upon application for travel to Kenya.
Kenya dropped the visa requirement for all foreigners, including Ghanaians, at the beginning of this year and instead introduced ETA.
The document is aimed at facilitating the identification of and verification of foreigners entering the country. However, the country faced criticism for introducing the ETA as travelers are still required to pay a fee in order to be permitted entry into Kenya.
Until now, Ghanaians planning to travel to Kenya were required to pay a fee of $30 when applying for the ETA.
On the other hand, they now only need to make sure that they apply for the document at least 72 hours before their planned entry into the country.
Ghanaians intending to travel to Kenya should submit their ETA application through Kenya’s official website. Their application needs to be approved, and then they will be able to enter the country without having to undergo any additional requirements or pay any additional fees.
This Is What Ghanaians Had to Say About the Exemption
The decision of Kenya to remove the requirement to pay for ETA for Ghanaian travelers was welcomed by the latter.
Under the Ghanaian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ announcement on X social media account, a user named Kwame lincoln said that this is great news and that there need to be more decisions like this one that enable free travel around the continent.
This is beautiful. We need more of these, traveling around the continent should be free, affordable, safe and easy. Thumbs up.
Others also were happy about the move, with them calling for the other countries to also permit free travel.
A user of the X social media platform said that there should not be barriers to travel within Africa, and another one called for a “borderless Africa.”