This archive report was first published on 30 September 2021.
On September 30, 2021, Kenya announced a crackdown on illegal immigrants from Pakistan, imposing a freeze on free transit arrangements with the Asian country to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The Interior Ministry cited a surge in numbers of Pakistanis passing through Kenya on their way to Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of softer conditions on travellers from Kenya to the Middle East concerning Covid-19 regulations.
Dr. Karanja Kibicho, the Interior and Citizen Services Principal Secretary, stated that authorities had noted a possible abuse of existing free transit arrangements between Kenya and Pakistan.
"The Kenyan Government is alarmed by the threat of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic posed by the influx of foreign travel... The government has ordered an immediate crackdown on foreigners who are in the country illegally," Dr. Kibicho said in a statement.
"The government will restrict the number of foreigners transiting through the country to levels that do not pose a risk to Kenya's national interests," he added.
The Department of Immigration and the National Police Service will now check the papers of all those who have arrived in the country in the recent past, with those without transit visas to be deported.
Free transit visas to Pakistanis will be halted, and only those with valid entry visas to Kenya will be accepted.
