Namangara TZ/KE | Customs and Immigration

We did an East Afrika visa application at the border $100 pp. Tanzania to Kenya. There was no problem that we did not do a E-visa application. Easy border crossing. Only we could not pay the road tax, our Visa card did not work. So we had to change money to pay the tax by M-Pesa with an other guy of immigration.

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Tanzania to Kenya, SA passport and EU motorbike with carnet and comesa.

Since Jan. 2024 Kenya does not issue Visas any more (also no East Africa Visa).
Now all travelers need a "travel authorization", 35$.
etakenya.go.ke, 2-3 days for application, do yourself a favor and print the thing.
Afaik it is included in the EA visa if you have it.

Border is fantastic, clean and organized.

Customs and immigration are clearly signed and right next to each other, 1 Hour, very friendly and polite people, lots of smiles, no one wanted to scan or search my bike.

What worked for me was: Yellow fever check -> TZ customs -> Kenya Customs -> TZ immigration -> Kenya immigration and done.

Kenya Customs (with carnet) wanted 21$ for a stamped piece of paper, the place to pay is in the corridor to your left, my reliable visa card didn't work but Mastercard worked perfectly, you can't pay with cash.

Beware of the Velcro-fixer, I had a guy with ID badge insist on helping me, he dissolved in to thin air though once i clearly told him to get lost and I wouldn't buy him lunch.

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Wrong amount.
Of course it was 6150KSH and 6500KSH….

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Corruption / scam at Kenia costums!!
it’s just about small amounts, but anyway.
During our CDP-stamping process other people handed over documents with hidden money and got preferred. Ok, no problem that’s Africa.
But when it came for us to pay, the small customs-lady told us the “system” would be down so we can not pay with card (Always an alert moment). She told us we have to go to some printing and copy shop guys just next to her counter and pay there, cash (next alert). These guy told us we have to pay 65000 KSH and they would send us the invoice for the roadtax payment via WhatsApp. He showed us on his phone an example. We insisted to wait for the system to work again and wouldn’t pay and leave without a receipt. And like a miracle the system started to work again. Then it turned out the copy guy already paid our amount wich was just 61500KHS online and wanted to have 65000KHS from us. We ended up paying 61500KSH cash but felt AGAIN tried to be taken for fools! And meanwhile we hate that kind of games!!!

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TANZANIA to KENYA

Fenced joint compound with security at parking lot. Officer wanted me to get all my things from the motorcycle into the scanner. I explained my sidebags are fixed on the bike, then he only asked to see inside the top duffle bag.
Exiting Tanzania quick. Kenya immigration quick also, had the eVisa printed out.
At customs, they said they would only give me 14 days for the bike (I have CPD), then I'd had to extend at a customs office. I debated that I had issues to be fixed on the bike, if they could give me 30 days in a row: then I would fly the bike out to the Middle East. Well they did (TIP cost me 21 USD, paid with credit card), but also stamped my CPD, since I would fly the bike out. There's a bureau de change inside the facility, so I could exchange my Tanz shillings to Kenyan shillings. Very friendly people. I already had COMESA insurance, so no other needed. The first Safaricom store for a Sim card is syraight ahead 100km, in Kitengela, by the highway. Just make sure to recollect your passport, and ask to get the card frame with the PIN number (they forget to hand you those). Many Shell gas stations along the way, with VPower gasoline.

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A very quick and easy border coming from Tanzania to Kenya. There is security in the car park and none of the agents were pushy or annoying as you dfind at other borders. There are plenty of insurance agents though if you need to get it.

We had our evisas printed and ready which helped speed things up, but there is a small kiosk past the customs desk that can do printing. There is a foreign vehicle tax based upon the vehicle weight I believe, and they took payment via card which was excellent. With immigration, customs (with a carnet) we were through in about 30-40 minutes max.

Lastly, there is a bank with an ATM just outside the gate on the left. You can just pull up by the lorries and run across to it.

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Kenya to Tanz. Easy border and very organised for once. Many fixers stopping you on the road but ignore them and go to the first fence with officials. They take your car and passeports info. Then you go park at the next big building 400 m further away and follow the instructions in the below comments. Easy.

With my french passeport, i reentered Tanz after 45 days in the east african union (Rwd, Ug, Kenya) with my 50$ single entry 90 days Visa without paying anything else. They didnt even asked questions, checked the previous Tanz stamp, looked at the visa receipt and stamped me in again. Friendly chaps.

We entered Kenya from Ug in a small border and we didnt have to pay a road tax, but at this border they asked us the receipt at the customs. We just told em that we didnt get anything at the border we got in and they let us go without paying anything after a quick chat.

If you are planning to not stay long in Tanz, you can get a transit "road tax" for about 7 days : 5 dollars or the equivalent in TZS. The first time we entered Tanz from Zambia, we stayed 9 days (because of mechanic issues) and then exited to Rwanda. We thought that they would give us a hard time and asked us to pay more but no one gave a damn rat about that and we exited Tanz very easily. Dont know if that would be the same at every border (the one we were at was very big, a bit like this one)

There is a bureau de change at the border that changes a lot of currencies including UGX, and of course €,$,£, Kenya and Tanz shillings.
Nice fast border.

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Certainly is a one stop shop :) Kenya to Tanzania.
1. First window on right after security frame - present yellow fever and we also showed Covid certificate… not sure if the Covid certificate is required :) Officer hands you the Tanzania entry form.
2. Customs exit desk for Carnet stamping.
3. Kenya Departure Window
4. Tanzania Arrivals Window - easy if you have evisa but can pay with Tanzanian Schillings on arrival. NMB atm across the road.
5. Tanzanian Customs to stamp Carnet in.

Very straight forward but if you see a bus try and get to the counter quick ;)

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Tanzania- Kenia
Don't come here with a South African registered car if you dont have a Carnet de Passage! (CPD)
Dont give any papers to the guys at the entrance. They are fixers and have no ID. If you come by car, first check on the Kenyan side if you are able to enter with your car. The guy in charge was very unproffessional. Maybe we said something wrong or he wanted a bribe, we didnt get the point why, but he kept us waiting 24 hours!!
He kept our car in the customs warehouse and then refused to give us back the keys for a long time. It seems the others really do not dear to say anything against him... He even proposed we should leave the car there and get the paper in Nairobi. I dont think that is a good idea... In the end we went back to Tanzania!

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Best border ever (at least so far)
Very convenient, all in one building.

We had issues paying with card, and we currently have a dispute on Revolut about it, because the problem only appeared a few weeks later. So be aware of that.

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Very easy border. I was approached by a few insurance guys, but they were nice.
First you show your Vaccination card, right before Immigration.
Immigration checkout of Tanzania took 1 minute. Entry to Kenya is right next to it. Took 5 minutes. Pictures and finger prints for both exit and entry.
Customs for Tanz. stampede out my Carnet and asked for a piece of paper, that I should have received at entry. I never got any paper. But it wasn't a problem.
Entry stamp in Carnet right next to it. Paid 51 usd for vehicle tax. was hoping no tax for motorcycle.
Then bought insurance for 5000 shilling for 3 months.
There's is a Forex exchange next to where you pay for vehicle tax which was very helpful.
I consider this one of my easiest border crossings.

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Tanzania to Kenya
2 German passport holders
1 Namibia registered vehicle with carnet

1. Health check of yellow fever and covid vaccination 2 minutes
2. Tanzania immigration out 1 minute
3. Kenya immigration in 3 minutes
3. Tanzania custom out 1 minute
4. Kenya custom in 2 minutes

Avoid lunch break as we had to wait for the Tanzanian customs official.
Get your evisa for Kenya online before. On https://www.ecitizen.go.ke you can use the same login as for the visa to pay your road tax. You have to upload a copy of your Carnet and your (COMESA) insurance. If you stay less than 14 days there is no road tax but you still have to fill out the form.
If you did not pay your roadtax before it will take much longer at customs.
Bring printouts of your evisa and roadtax payment(this one will be stamped).
There is also a copyshop with internet inside the building next to customs.
A very convenient and swift one stop border crossing.

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Very good info by budgetbirders. Thanks to them we applied for our visa online beforehand. Do keep in mind that it takes a few hours to process and that you don’t get any notice when it’s approved. You have to keep checking yourself. Price of road tax depends on engine capacity and length of stay.

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Going from Tanzania to Kenya.
A few update from haveaniceway's detailed information:
1. Don't give anything to anyone at the entry gate. A guy tried to ask for some fictitious document and when I didn't understand what it was that he wanted, he offered to show me in my paperwork. You do not have to stop here! We just drove by and went straight to the building.
2. Have a printed copy of your PCR results. We had it on our phones, but the health department will want a copy. (Even though all they want is the number to look up in their system.) FYI: it is possible to print at the gate, but the man in charge of the printer was charging an excessive rate. (If you do need to print, price is 10 kenyan shilling for 1 page. He wanted us to pay him 100x that much. We paid him the going rate and when we needed something else printed later he refused. Avoid this man at all costs.)
3. You can no longer get a visa at the border. Applications need to be done online. We did not know this, as it is a very recent change. We were able to apply and pay on our phones but it took nearly an hour to process. You need to give a color copy to immigration. Our friend with the printer refused to print anything else for us. Thankfully a different worker realized what was happening and agreed to print for us but he said he was not supposed to do this. Best to bring in advance or have a hotel print for you beforehand.
4. It is also possible to pay for road tax online through same website that you do eVisa. it is $21 for one month. Pay online and print the receipt to bring along. Otherwise you will have to do it when you are there.

Everything else is the same. If we had our evisa ahead of time it would have been a super easy process. Very tame border.

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Please be carefully on the gate to the border. A guy asked us for the paper of the car include CDP and opened the gate for us. He come with us and it seems serious, but on the end it was nobody from the border and they paid for us the TIP and inssurance. After Diskussion we reduced the price for the inssurance and paid only 4 USD for the service, but all fees in cash instead could using our creditcard.

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The first one stop border we have been to that is actually a one stop border!
Took 1 hour from Kenya to Tanzania on a Friday afternoon. Easy and straight forward.
1. Health check/ yellow fever
2. Kenya immigration
3. Tanzania immigration
4. Kenya customs, carnet stamped out
5. Tanzania customs, carnet stamped in. This guy was in no rush so slowed the process down a little. Paid $us5 for road tax for less than 7 days. It’s $us25 if it’s over 7 days.

Drove straight out, no vehicle check except the lady before we entered the building who was more interested in our camper than checking the truck.

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Very easy border. Coming from Tanzania side to Kenya, we followed these steps:

1. Drive past long line of trucks, through the gate (we didn't get a gate pass) and park next to the building. Wash hands and get your temperature measured - 5 minutes
2. Exit stamp Tanzania - 2 minutes
3. Application for visa (we got the multiple entry East-African visa for $100 pp) - 20 minutes
4. In the meanwhile stamp out Carnet TZ side - 2 minutes
5. After getting your visa, stamp in Carnet Kenya side (they need your passport)
6. Pay road tax of $41 via eCitizen account. There is a computer and a guy who help you with this. We typed in everything ourself. It's straightforward. You pay either to the KCB Bank just 5 minutes walk distance away or via the guys computer with your credit card (we didn't do this, as the connection was not secure and you should not give all your details on an insecure line)
7. Take your receipt of bank payment back to the computer and finish off your payment (system already sees you paid at the bank). Print out paper and give to the Kenya customs guy.
8. Get your last stamps - step 5 to 8 is 60 minutes
9. You're almost done. The computer guy will ask for KES200 for his services, but it's his job and is free (customs guys told this)
10. Drive through the gate. Done.

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Border straightforward and good organized. In one building Kenya and Tanzania immigration and customs. Go into the building, show yellow fever card. Tanzania immigration: give passport, picture and fingerprints. Then go to Kenya immigration: give passport, picture and fingerprints. Tanzanian customs: will ask for eastafrican TIP and stamp out carnet. Kenyan customs: looks like only one guy handles the carnet so I had to wait for him. Then a lady there calculated the road tax: for 2 bikes she said it was 12000 KSH (120 dollar!! 60 dollar each bike). I told here that was really expensive and if she could reask it that was right. Then there was about an hour discussion between all the custom officials as bikes should be on different scale but the result was that she miscalculated. It was 20 dollar only per bike (2100 KSH). Huge difference! There is an exchange office in the same building, even a print and copy shop.
Total time: 2 hours (without the discussion should be 1 hour)

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Entering Tanzania
$50 pp 3 month visa (paid in USD)
$20 for vehicle 1 month TIP (they wanted TSH but agreed go take KSH)
Slow but straight forward.

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Indeed a very easy border crossing. It seems as if you enter Kenya before being stamped out of Tanzania. However, the formalities for both countries are done in the same building (hence the one stop border post, but we were slightly confused).

We entered Kenya without carnet de passage and were given a TIP for three months (paid 10.200 shilling for the Foreign Vehicle Fee for three months, roughly 100$). All went pretty smoothly and professional. There is also an office where you can change money.

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Easy and quick one stop border post. Cost us 4200 KSH for the vehicle.

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