President William Ruto’s bilateral talks with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa have culminated in the ratification of a deal to allow Visa-free entry to South Africa for Kenyans.
In the deal, Kenyans will be allowed to enter South Africa with ordinary passports and stay in the country for a maximum of 90 days per year from January 2023.
Speaking at Statehouse after the talks, president Ruto hailed his guest for enhancing a breakthrough into the milestone that he termed as long overdue.
“On behalf of the people of Kenya, I express Kenya’s appreciation for the progress that we have made in the long-awaited visa-free regime between Kenya and South Africa,” said President Ruto.
“Kenyans holding ordinary passports will be allowed to enter South Africa on a VISA-free regime for up to 90 days per calendar year,”
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On his side, President Ramaphosa said the long-standing issue of Visas had now been resolved, setting a new stage for the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.
“With the view of allowing Kenyans to visit South Africa on a free-visa basis, we have discussed the thorny issue of visas. We agreed that indeed that Kenyans should be able to visit South Africa without requiring them to have visas. This will commence on the 1st of January 2023. Our officials will speed up the processes to implement this move,” said President Ramaphosa.
However, the head of state cautioned individuals who might be planning to use the opportunity as a loophole to further illegal deeds, saying they have established a return-home mechanism to deal with such incidents.
“The two countries have also agreed on a return policy when laws and regulations on immigration are breached to make sure that bad elements that try to infiltrate our borders are dealt with firmly and decisively,” said President Ruto.
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