International students have been hit by a new demand to pay USD 100 for pupil passes in order to be granted a permit to undertake their studies in Kenya.
Speaking to an administrator of one of the international colleges in Kenya, it was revealed that the directive was made last week, the same time that Kenya revised permits for missionaries from Ksh15,000 to Ksh150,000.
In the new directive, it was revealed to Kenyans.co.ke, that the government had further indicated that international students would no longer be allowed to make the payments in Shillings.
“We were shocked to receive an invoice stating that we should pay USD100 (Ksh13,200) instead of the usual Ksh5,000 per student,” the administrator revealed.
“Additionally, we can no longer make the payments using mobile money as it can only allow transactions in local currency.”
It was not revealed why the government decided to triple the charges for international students.
The directive has inconvenienced tens of schools in Kenya which host international students.
There are over 6,000 international students in various universities and colleges in Kenya. In total, Kenya hosts over 50,000 international students from primary to tertiary level according to Master Studies.
The administrator remarked that this directive now affects every international student/pupil whether in kindergarten or university.
“We prepare our fee structure using Kenyan Shilling but now it is complicated to do so due to the volatility of the dollar,” she explained.
While USD 100 is exchanging at Ksh13,200 as of April 17, this can change within a day or even hours.
The amount must also be paid by the academic institution on behalf of the student through the Republic of Kenya electronic Foreign Nationals Services (eFNS).
“Of course, the students cannot make the payments because they need to have a bank account for such,” the international college stated why they used one joint account to pay for the pupil passes.
“This is not possible because they must have the pupil pass to apply for Alien ID which can be used to open an account with Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) enabling the student now to have a bank account,” it was explained why the process was inconveniencing many schools and students.
Explaining the frustration, the school administrator explained that the international college was processing 40 applications every semester.
Now they are forced to increase school fees as well as find ways to deal with the volatility of the dollar.
