Wealthy Foreign Investors to Get Kenyan Citizenship

The government is working on a plan that seeks to have wealthy foreign investors granted Kenyan citizenship.

The move is aimed at enhancing the country’s direct foreign investment (FDI) flows, according to Kenya Investment Authority (KenInvest).

Under the proposal, affluent foreign investors whose enterprises are deemed to have a high impact on job creation and export earnings will be allowed to automatically apply for citizenship, Business Daily reported.

Currently, Kenyan immigration laws require an immigrant to continuously live in the country for a minimum of seven years to qualify for citizenship by registration.

KenInvest said that after vetting, high-net-worth investors will be given permanent residence status, an equivalent of the Green Card in the United States.

KenInvest managing director Moses Ikiara said the agency had engaged Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i with a view to developing a framework to ensure the vetting is watertight and free from abuse.

“If somebody has created impact and you can see the jobs created why don’t we extend an incentive to them and say we invite to be our citizen in three, two years,” Dr. Ikiara said.

 
“Giving incentives to those people with a lot of money could be among the non-monetary incentives.”

The framework dubbed Kenya Investment Policy seeks to guide attraction, facilitation, retention, monitoring, and evaluation of the impact of private investments at national and county levels.