{"id":46173,"date":"2023-11-01T14:48:32","date_gmt":"2023-11-01T14:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors"},"modified":"2023-11-01T15:04:33","modified_gmt":"2023-11-01T15:04:33","slug":"kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors","title":{"rendered":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time we… realise that having visa restrictions amongst ourselves is working against us,\u201d he told an international conference.<\/p>\n

Visa-free travel within the continent has been a goal of the African Union (AU) for the past decade.<\/p>\n

While there are regional deals and bilateral arrangements, progress towards no restrictions has been slow.<\/p>\n

Only Seychelles, The Gambia and Benin offer entry to all African citizens without a visa, according to a 2022 AU-backed report.<\/p>\n

But according to Africa\u2019s Visa Openness Index \u2013 which measures the extent to which each country in Africa is open to visitors from other African countries \u2013 most countries are making progress towards simplifying entry processes and dropping restrictions to some other nations.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Kenya was ranked 31st on the index out of 54 states.<\/p>\n

President Ruto told an audience in Congo-Brazzaville that it was bad for business.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people cannot travel, businesspeople cannot travel, entrepreneurs cannot travel, we all become net losers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me say this: As Kenya, by the end of this year, no African will be required to have a visa to come to Kenya,\u201d he said to loud cheers from the conference delegates.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children from this continent should not be locked in borders in Europe and also be locked in borders in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was speaking at a summit aimed at protecting some of the world\u2019s largest rainforests.<\/p>\n

The AU launched its African passport in 2016. The idea behind the passport is for all African citizens to be able to travel throughout the continent without visas \u2013 but it is still not widely available.<\/p>\n

This is in part because of concerns about security, smuggling and the impact on the local employment markets.<\/p>\n

If dropping all visa restrictions is currently a step too far, the Visa Openness Index report recommends a number of other measures. These include lowering fees, making visa on arrival standard for African visitors and implementing a secure e-visa system.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said. \u201cIt is time we… realise that having visa restrictions amongst ourselves is working against us,\u201d he told an international conference. Visa-free travel within the continent has been a goal of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":46172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12,2366],"tags":[2355,2361,260],"class_list":["post-46173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","category-to-homepage","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nKenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-01T14:48:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-01T15:04:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1264\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"657\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-01T14:48:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-01T15:04:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\",\"to-homepage\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\",\"name\":\"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors - Gambia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-01T14:48:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-01T15:04:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg\",\"width\":1264,\"height\":657,\"caption\":\"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/\",\"name\":\"Gambia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors - Gambia","description":"Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors","og_description":"Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors","og_site_name":"Gambia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-11-01T14:48:32+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-11-01T15:04:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1264,"height":657,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors","datePublished":"2023-11-01T14:48:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-01T15:04:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors"},"wordCount":359,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Gambia","Gambia"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy","to-homepage"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors","name":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors - Gambia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg","datePublished":"2023-11-01T14:48:32+00:00","dateModified":"2023-11-01T15:04:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Kenya is to end visa requirements to all African visitors by the end of the year, President William Ruto has said.<\/b ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2023\/11\/sm_1698838402.007018.jpg","width":1264,"height":657,"caption":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/kenya-joins-gambia-to-become-visa-free-to-african-visitors#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Kenya joins Gambia to become visa-free to African visitors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/","name":"Gambia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}