East African citizens coming to work in Kenya will no longer be required to pay for work permits.The Immigration Minister for Kenya has decided to exempt the residents of those countries from paying for the work permits.

This comes after the introduction of the East African Community that saw the creation of the East African parliament and the introduction of the East African Passport that allow the citizens of the member states to use one passport to travel in those regions without need for visas.

The President of Kenya directed the Minister for Immigration in Kenya, Otieno Kajwang to waive the fees on Wednesday at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) where he launched the East African Community Common market.So far Kenya and Rwanda have signed agreements to waive work permit fees.

'I am directing the minister responsible for Immigration to waive fees on work permits for all East African citizens.'The President said.

Now eyes are turned on Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi to see if they will also follow the examples set by their neighbours Kenya and Rwanda. Kenya’s Immigration Minister has already sent a gazette notice that once published, will see the waiver take effect.

'In the spirit of the East African Community Common Market Protocol, citizens of member states have been exempted from payment of work permit fees,' Kenya’s Immigration Minister, Otieno Kajwang said

It is now expected that with the abolishment of the work permit fees, there would be an increase in development in the areas of trade and commerce plus other benefits once the laws are harmonised in the East African Community countries in regard to the work permit issue.

So far, working in the member states, has been hindered by access to work permits which are hard to get since the process is laborious, time consuming,expensive and corrupt.

Once the protocol comes into effect, it is expected that there will be an influx of human capacity in the capital Nairobi and a lot of Kenyans will lose jobs to their counter parts from the member states who will take the same jobs for a lower pay.
At the moment, Kenya is the commercial hub of East Africa and the more industrialised of the member states.

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