Guide
Kenya Work Permit Guide
A complete overview of Kenya's work permit classes and how to choose the right one.
Written for: HR and global mobility teams, and professionals planning to work in Kenya.
What this covers
Kenya issues work permits by class, and the class you apply under is decided by the nature of the work — not by seniority, salary or how urgent the hire is. Choosing the wrong class is the most common reason a well-prepared application is rejected, and a rejection is far harder to recover from than a correct first filing.
This guide walks through each permit class in plain language: what activity it authorises, who it is designed for, and the evidence the Department of Immigration Services expects to see. It covers the classes employers meet most often — Class D for a named employment offer, Class G for trade, business or consultancy, and Class C for prescribed professions — alongside the passes that sit around them, including special passes, dependant passes and student passes.
It also addresses the part most applicants underestimate: sequencing. Permits, entry visas and dependants' status interact, and doing them in the wrong order can leave an employee lawfully in the country but unable to start work. We set out how the pieces fit together, where the realistic timing pressures are, and which decisions have to be made before an offer letter is signed.
- Every Kenyan work permit class and the activity each authorises
- How to match a role to the correct class before applying
- Supporting documents expected for each class
- How permits, entry visas and dependant passes interact
- Sequencing and realistic timing considerations
- The avoidable errors that most often trigger a rejection
Prepared by the CKN Civis Africa advisory team. This resource is general information about Kenyan immigration practice, not legal advice on your specific circumstances — for that, book a consultation.
Available on request. Rather than an instant download, an advisor prepares and sends the current version — immigration rules change often enough that a stale document does more harm than none.