By James Okong’o
A Facebook post (also see featured image above) claiming that US President Donald Trump has announced permanent e-visas for Kenyan citizens has been shared widely.
Background
The post claims that President Trump officially communicated his decision about the allocation of e-visas to Robinson Githae, Kenya’s ambassador to the US.
The post further lists professions and specialists eligible for the purported permanent e-visa, adding that the opening would accommodate up to 6,000 Kenyans.
Verification
The Facebook page behind the announcement is not the official page of the Kenyan embassy in the US.
Kenya’s embassy in the US dismissed the claim on its official website and Facebook account, terming it fraudulent.
“The announcement did not originate from the Embassy, should be ignored and not be circulated under any circumstances. Do not send any money to the fake numbers being circulated. The indicated phone numbers do not belong to the embassy,” reads the statement from the Kenyan US embassy in the US.
Facebook Page Transparency Information for the imposter page shows it was created on October 15, 2020, the same day that the e-visa post was published.
The legitimate Kenya Embassy Washington DC Facebook page is verified and was created on January 30, 2011.
The e-visa category allows “treaty traders” and investors to travel to the United States under a bilateral treaty of commerce and navigation. While the United States maintains treaties of commerce and navigation with several other countries, Kenya is not on the list.
Verdict
PesaCheck has looked into a post claiming that US President Donald Trump has announced permanent “e-visas” for Kenyan citizens, and finds it is FALSE.
This story was produced by PesaCheck in partnership with Code for Africa’s iLAB data journalism programme, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie.
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