South America is a patchwork for Kenyan passport holders, and a single trip often crosses several borders with different rules at each. Some countries need a visa arranged in advance, others admit Kenyans visa-free or on arrival, and nearly all check a yellow fever certificate at the gate. We map your whole route first - which legs need a visa, which need only a certificate, and in what order to apply. The requirements vary country by country, and that is exactly where trips come unstuck.
Where to find us
Neehari Global Limited
One Africa Place, Waiyaki Way, Westlands
Nairobi, 00100
Kenya
Our map is at the bottom of every page.
Who this service is for
We handle south america visa application for a wide range of travellers, and the right approach differs considerably between them. A salaried employee with a five-year employment history and a self-employed trader with no payslips need entirely different files, even for the same destination on the same dates. If you recognise yourself below, we have done this many times before.
- Travellers planning a multi-country South American trip
- Tourists heading to Argentina, Chile, Peru or Colombia
- Business travellers attending events or meeting suppliers in the region
- Backpackers routing overland across several borders
- Travellers unsure which South American countries need a visa at all
How long it takes
Timelines depend on which countries on your route need a visa. Consular applications run to a few weeks and must be planned around embassy availability. Visa-free and visa-on-arrival countries need no lead time but still require a valid yellow fever certificate and onward tickets at the border. We tell you the critical-path country so you build the trip around the slowest step.
Those are the mission's own processing standards, and they are only half the picture. In Nairobi the binding constraint is usually appointment availability rather than processing: slots at the visa application centres are released in batches, taken within minutes, and at their tightest around the December and August peaks. Build your plan around the date you can actually be seen, not around the published turnaround. We will tell you what is realistically available before you commit to a flight.
How we handle your application
- Free consultation. We establish the correct visa category, the right mission and a realistic date. Getting this wrong at the start costs more than anything else.
- Tailored checklist. You get a document list built for your circumstances, not a generic printout.
- Document review. We check every item for consistency before anything is submitted. See our visa document review service.
- Form completion. We complete the application and send it to you to verify line by line before submission.
- Appointment. We secure the earliest workable slot at the relevant centre - see appointment booking.
- Tracking. We monitor the file and respond to any request for further documents during processing.
- Decision and collection. We tell you what the decision means and what happens next, including passport collection.
What the mission is actually deciding
South America is where Kenyan travellers most often assume one set of rules and get caught out. The continent is a patchwork: entry requirements differ at every border, and a document that satisfies one country's consulate can be irrelevant or wrongly formatted for the next. Two things reliably cause problems. The first is the yellow fever certificate, valid only a set number of days after vaccination and checked on arrival across most of the region. The second is onward-ticket proof, which several countries demand even where no visa is required. Multi-country routes add a sequencing problem on top: the country with the slowest consular process dictates when the whole trip can happen, and applying to the others first simply burns their validity windows. We map the route before a single application is filed.
After the decision
Entry durations are set at each port of entry, not by any regional rule, and are usually generous for tourism. If your trip crosses several countries, each stamp stands alone - leaving and re-entering the region can reset or complicate what you were granted, so confirm the plan before you cross a border you intend to come back through.
Why applying from Nairobi is different
Most of the guidance you will find online about south america visa was written for applicants in Europe or North America, and it quietly assumes things that are not true here. It assumes appointment slots are available within days. It assumes a salaried applicant with a payslip. It assumes a long personal travel history already sitting in the passport. For a great many Kenyan applicants none of those hold, and a file built on that advice will be missing exactly the evidence a consular officer covering this region is looking for.
What actually works from Nairobi is documenting the things that are true about your life rather than mimicking a template: a business rather than an employer, family and property here rather than a long stamp collection, regional travel history rather than European. We build files around that, and we do it for clients across the city - from Westlands to Nairobi CBD and Parklands.
Is this the right category for your trip?
There is no single South American visa. Countries range from visa-free to visa-on-arrival to full consular visas, and each must be satisfied on its own terms. The binding constraint on any multi-country trip is whichever leg has the slowest visa process.
What you pay, and what it covers
There are two separate costs in any visa application and it is worth keeping them apart. The first is the mission's own visa fee, plus any visa centre service charge and optional priority fee. That money goes to them, is set by them, changes periodically, and is not refundable if the application is refused. The second is our consultancy fee, which covers the consultation, the tailored checklist, document review, form completion, appointment booking and tracking of the file through to decision.
We quote both in writing before you commit to anything, and the initial consultation is free. We do not take a percentage of anything, we do not mark up the mission's fees, and we do not charge a success fee - a fee structure that rewards us for a decision we do not control would not be honest. If your case is one where you genuinely do not need us, we will say so.
South America Visa clients across Nairobi
We handle south america visa applications for clients right across the city. A large share of this work comes from Westlands, where westlands generates a particular mix of applications: business visas for the professional services firms and tech companies clustered around chiromo and waiyaki way, sche. We also see steady demand from clients in Nairobi CBD, and from Parklands and the surrounding neighbourhoods. Wherever you are in Nairobi, most of the process runs over email and WhatsApp - you only need to attend the visa centre in person for biometrics.
We also serve these areas
Frequently asked questions
Which South American countries do Kenyans need a visa for?
It varies and it changes. Some grant visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to Kenyan passport holders, others require a consular visa arranged in advance. We check the current rule for every country on your specific route before you book anything.
How early should I start planning a South American trip?
Start with the yellow fever certificate and any consular visa on your route, since both have lead times. Once those are moving, the visa-free legs need only your onward tickets and accommodation. We work backwards from your departure date and tell you the earliest task.
Do I really need a yellow fever certificate?
For most of the region, yes, and border officers do check it. It only becomes valid a set number of days after vaccination, so it is the first thing to arrange, not the last.
Can one visa cover several South American countries?
No. There is no single South American visa. Each country sets its own entry rules and you satisfy each border independently.
Can you handle a multi-country trip in one go?
Yes. We map the whole route, identify which legs need a visa, sequence the applications, and prepare the documents each border will ask for.
Should I apply for every country before leaving?
Only the ones that require a visa in advance. Many South American countries admit Kenyan passport holders visa-free or on arrival, so applying everywhere wastes time and money. We identify which legs actually need an application.
What happens at each border?
You present your passport, your yellow fever certificate, proof of onward travel and usually accommodation. Officers set the permitted stay on entry. Carrying paper copies matters - connectivity at land borders is unreliable.
Does a South American trip need Spanish or Portuguese?
You do not need to speak either, but some documents may need translation for the countries that require a consular visa. We confirm which, so you do not translate everything.
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What we commit to
Local SEO copy is cheap and promises are cheaper, so here is what we will actually hold ourselves to. We quote our fee and the mission's separate fees in writing before you pay anything, and the first consultation costs nothing. We do not guarantee approvals, because the decision belongs to a consular officer and no consultant controls it - anyone in Nairobi telling you otherwise is either selling something or planning to blame the embassy later.
We will not produce documents on your behalf, invent employment, or supply an insurance certificate that does not correspond to a real policy. Those are the fastest routes to a deception finding and a multi-year ban, and they end careers as well as trips. If we think your case is straightforward enough to file yourself, we will say so and charge you for the review rather than the full service. And if we think a deadline genuinely cannot be met, you will hear that on the first call rather than the week before you fly.
Ready to start your south america visa?
Free initial consultation. We reply on WhatsApp within a few hours on business days.
Get in touch. Start early. It costs nothing to ask. The first consultation is free. Speak to a consultant today. Documents matter more than promises. Our office is in Westlands, Nairobi. Most of the process happens remotely. Bring your passport and recent bank statements. Ask us before you buy a ticket. We quote all fees in writing beforehand. You attend in person only for biometrics. No approval is ever guaranteed, by us or anyone else. Every application is handled by a named consultant. We will tell you honestly what is achievable. We reply on WhatsApp within a few hours on business days.