Sponsorship - possibility, ease and cost?

Hello cdeeky and welcome to Expat.com!

Hope that you will soon get replies to your query.

Harmonie.

Hello there,

I am kenyan.

Getting a Kenyan work permit is very easy especially if you work for a reputeable company.

I have handled lots of relocations and seen that its pretty fast.

AnnKi wrote:

Hello there,

I am kenyan.

Getting a Kenyan work permit is very easy especially if you work for a reputeable company.

I have handled lots of relocations and seen that its pretty fast.

Hello AnnKi

Thanks for your reply to my post.

I am assuming my prospective employer would arrange for my work permit, and based on that I believe i would be able to sponsor my wife and kids.

I am more concerned about sponsoring my old Parents and very old grand mother, to live with me.  Is it allowed for someone on work permit to have his parents and grandmother live with him?

Also I would like to bring my own house maid with me, rather than getting a local one.

Can you please provide some guidance on sponsorship of parents, grand mother and house maid, if you have any experience in this.

Thanks very much.


Cdeeky.

I think that you might struggle to get passes for the extended family.  You would certainly need to evidence your ability to support them in Kenya.  There is such a thing as a dependants pass, for family members who are dependent on you.  What I don't know is whether a non kenyan citizen is eligible.

As for your house maid:  You are her employer, therefore you would be responsible for applying for her work permit.  The official application process takes into account whether there is a Kenyan who could do the same job.  I would imagine, that for a house maid, this would be very challenging to evidence! 

Personally, I think it would be quite unfair of you to expect to bring a house maid with you, to Kenya, when there are so many Kenyans out of work.

Thanks very much for your feedback.

I have all the respect for locals - please dont misunderstand.

My parents are retired (about 65 years) and grand mother is 90+  I hope they can be treated within the definition of dependent family members.

For housemaid, my only concern was that, our kids were quite attached to her.  Also, I am not sure how safe it will be to have a local lady stay in my house 24x7.  Someone told me that if I take a housemaid through an agency, it is very safe.  Dont know how far that is true.

Any thoughts / ideas ?

I think that having a housemaid through an agency is generally fine if you use a reputable agency. The other thing that may be worth trying is getting a recommendation from somebody who has used that housemaid in the past. For example an ex-pat who is moving away may well have somebody that has been with them for some time.

Perhaps an ad on this site will bring results.

The maid is a problem some time they steal things ftom the house, and even if u take one from some agency coz u will never sure about the thing that it is lost or stolen ,my cousin is here in kenya almost 4years and he also have his wife wd him , kenyan polices are polite u can have residency for all ur family members for approxymetly one lack per person ksh or pkr ,

A personal recommendation is by far the best for hiring workers.  As the previous posts have indicated, theft from employers is not uncommon and I have personal experience of this.

The point I was trying to make, cdeeky is that it is the employer who is responsible to arranging a work permit.  In your case, it would be down to you to apply on behalf of your house maid and I think that this would be problematic.  The Kenyan government like to see that an expat is brining some benefit to Kenya and of course employing someone locally would fulfil this.

Any luck with sponsoring your maid in Kenya? I realize it's an old post but lack of information on the net is leaving me no option but to try and garner a response here - We would also like to bring our maid with us to Nairobi, when we move in a month, from Ghana. Worried about safety in Kenya and we trust her implicitly.

Hi sunshinefl,
I may not have an answer to the questions asked but i generally think some of the things that expats are trying to do are beyond understanding, at least in my undestanding.I would think one needs to prepare himself or herself well before making a move to a foreign country,Kenya applicable.Browsing the immigration websites would be a good start.On matters security i feel that if one has fears then perhabs might not need to  take the step.Having a negative mindset about the locals or the host community before even arriving doesnt reallly improve ones potential success to settle in the new country.It just wouln't sound polite for someone to try to talk of importing a maid for whatever reason into a country because of a move.The locals need a job too.Good luck as you apply for a visa for your maids but sorry, i think the immigration people should deny to grant one on the basis i just indicated
A

Hello Sunshinenfleurs,

I'm not absolutely certain, but I think that you're going to find that if you're in Kenya on either a Temporary Work Visa or even on a Permanent Resident Visa that, just like with most other countries, you can only request additional visas for your spouse, dependent children (under 18 or still in school, handicapped children). In some cases you can also request visas for your parents, but most countries require that you prove that they financially dependent on you and that you have the finances to support them wholly.

As far as non-related individuals are concerned they would be required apply for their own visa. So as far as the maid goes you'd be out of luck, couldn't sponsor her.

This is the way that immigrations works in most countries, I'm sure Kenya wouldn't be much different. Check with the Kenya Consulate nearest you.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team