Dreaming of warmer weather and long sandy beaches? Then Kenya’s new digital nomad visa will come as welcome news.

Announced this week, the Digital Nomad Work Permit will allow remote workers to temporarily station themselves in the East African country with a potential view to longer-term residency.

It is hoped the visa will boost tourism, the local economy, innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

At the Magical Kenya Travel Expo in Nairobi on 2 October, President William Ruto also highlighted the country’s visa-free policy introduced this year, along with a new Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for transit passengers passing through the capital.

This allows passengers to leave the airport during their layover to explore Nairobi.

What are the requirements of Kenya’s digital nomad visa?

To get Kenya’s digital nomad visa, applicants will need to show a valid passport, proof of remote work outside Kenya, proof of accommodation within Kenya and a clean criminal record.

The minimum annual income requirement for the visa will be $55,000 (€50,000).

So far it is unclear how long the work permit will be valid for, how much it will cost or when it will be available. But it is expected that it will provide a potential pathway to long-term residency and even citizenship in Kenya.

Why visit Kenya?

Kenya also made things easier for tourists this year by introducing 90-day visa-free travel for many nationalities in January. Travellers must obtain an ETA at least 72 hours before setting off.

The ETA can be extended for a further 90 days for $50 (€45), giving a potential total stay of six months.

That’s plenty of time to explore the country’s diverse landscapes and culture. Kenya is best known for its safaris – particularly in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. But it’s also home to pristine Indian Ocean beaches and outdoor adventures such as summiting Mount Kenya and flamingo watching in the Great Rift Valley.

It’s easy to pack plenty into a short stopover in Nairobi, too, from visiting the Nairobi Giraffe Centre, shopping in the lively Maasai Market, fuelling up on Kenyan coffee or dancing the night away at the city’s vibrant clubs.

Kenya welcomed around two million international tourists in 2023. The country aims to increase this number to five million by 2027.

Malta’s controversial golden passport scheme, allowing foreigners to purchase EU citizenship in exchange for investing upwards of €690,000, could be offered a legal reprieve following an opinion produced for the EU’s top court on Friday (4 October).

Granting citizenship is a power EU member states kept for themselves, said the non-binding report by Advocate General Anthony Collins, brushing aside European Commission concerns of undermining the EU’s integrity.

“Member States have decided that it is for each of them alone to determine who is entitled to be one of their nationals and, as a consequence, who is an EU citizen,” said a statement from the Court of Justice.

“There is no logical basis for the contention that because Member States are obliged to recognise nationality granted by other Member States, their nationality laws must contain any particular rule,” the statement added.

Judges at the Court of Justice will decide on the case in the near future; they aren’t obliged to follow Advocate General opinions, though in the majority of cases they do.

The Commission took the legal action years ago, arguing that the golden passport scheme breached Malta’s duty to cooperate sincerely. In principle, people can gain citizenship of Malta, and hence the right to work across the EU, even if they didn’t have family ties or a home there.

Malta is the last remaining golden passport scheme within the bloc, after Cyprus scrapped its procedure in 2020, and Bulgaria in 2022. Other countries offer “golden visas”, a narrower system that offers residence permits to those willing to pay, although those are also under the spotlight.

Portugal slimmed down its golden visa scheme last year, removing a real estate investment condition in a bid to cut property speculation. The Netherlands followed suit, ending its golden visa scheme in January 2024, and Spain has also promised to abolish golden visas for those who invest in real estate.

The schemes have raised significant security and money-laundering concerns – not least since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as acquiring an EU passport or residence card may let wealthy Russians evade sanctions.

In 2022, MEPs called for tighter rules on golden visas and a ban on citizenship by investment, saying it was “objectionable from an ethical, legal and economic point of view”.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Commission said “we take note” of the opinion, adding: “We now await the ruling of the Court of Justice.”

This article was updated at 14:21 CET to add the Commission comment.

This article was amended at 19:03 CET to correct the date of the Ukraine invasion.