For Kenyans in Qatar: e-passport, good conduct certificate and help from the Embassy of Kenya in Doha

More than 75,000 Kenyans live and work in Qatar, with more arriving under a 2025 jobs deal, and most of the Kenyan paperwork you will need can now be done without flying home. Nearly everything starts on Kenya's eCitizen portal: you apply and pay online, then visit the Embassy of Kenya in Doha in person only for fingerprints and photos. This guide covers the e-passport first, because a passport problem also blocks your Qatar residency, then lost passports, children born in Qatar, national ID, the Kenyan certificate of good conduct, and help with work problems and recruitment. Qatar-side tasks such as moving your residency to a new passport, Qatar police clearance, salary complaints and repatriation have their own guides, linked in each step. Fees and booklet options on eCitizen have changed several times since 2024, so always trust the amount eCitizen shows on the day.

Before you start

• Your current Kenyan passport (even if expired) and a copy of the bio-data page
• Your Kenyan national ID card or Maisha card, with copies of both sides
• Your Qatar ID (QID) and a copy, in case the Embassy asks for proof that you live in Qatar
• An eCitizen account in your own name (ecitizen.go.ke), with access to the phone number and email you registered
• A bank card that works for online payment in Kenya shillings, or someone in Kenya who can pay the eCitizen invoice for you
• Recent passport-size photos on a white background (the Embassy has asked for two in past drives; bring extras)
• Copies of your parents' ID cards, which are often needed for a first passport or a child's passport
• For a child born in Qatar: the Qatari birth certificate, both parents' passports and IDs
• For a lost passport: a police report from Qatar and a short signed letter explaining how it was lost
• For a work problem: your contract, payslips or bank statements, and your employer's name and QID details

Step by step

1. Register with the Embassy and follow its notices

   The Embassy of Kenya in Doha handles passports, police clearance fingerprints, birth registration and welfare cases for Kenyans in Qatar. In February 2026, during the regional tension with Iran, the Embassy asked all Kenyans in Qatar to register through its website, kenyaembassydoha.com, so it can reach you in an emergency. Registering takes a few minutes and costs nothing. Check the website and the Embassy's official social media for opening hours, appointment rules and announcements such as mobile consular service drives, because these change and old details on third-party sites are often wrong.

   Read guide: Emergencies in Qatar: who to call and where to go →

2. Open or recover your eCitizen account

   Kenya's eCitizen portal (ecitizen.go.ke) is where you apply and pay for passports, the certificate of good conduct and most civil registration services. Use one account in your own name linked to your Kenyan ID number, and keep the phone number and email on it up to date, because codes and status messages go there. If you have lost access to an old Kenyan SIM, update the account before you start an application. Do not let an agent or friend apply from their account for you; the application and payment must match your own details.

3. Apply for your e-passport online

   In eCitizen, open the Department of Immigration services and start a passport application, choosing the Embassy in Doha as the place where you will enrol, if that option is shown. Fill in your details exactly as on your ID, upload the photo, signature and document copies the form asks for, then pay and print the application form and invoice. Since July 2025 the 34-page booklet has not been available, and in early 2026 first-time applicants were only being offered the 66-page booklet at KES 12,500. Old dark blue passports are no longer valid, so if you still hold one you need a new e-passport.

4. Give your biometrics at the Embassy

   Take the printed form, the payment invoice, your old passport, your ID and the copies to the Embassy, where your fingerprints, photo and signature are captured. You must go in person; nobody can do this step for you. You get a reference that lets you track the application, and the passport is printed in Nairobi and sent to Doha. When the Embassy launched the service in 2022 it quoted about four weeks, but times vary with booklet supply, so apply well before your passport expires. Collect it in person and check every detail before you leave the counter.

5. Move your Qatar residency to the new passport

   A new Kenyan passport has a new number, and Qatar still has your residency linked to the old one. Until you update it, airport immigration and some government services can show a mismatch. Ask your employer's PRO to transfer the residency details, or do it yourself in the Metrash app if your sponsor allows it. Keep the old passport, since it may still carry your visa history. The full process is in the update-passport-in-residency guide.

   Read guide: Got a new passport? Updating it in your Qatar residence record →

6. If your passport is lost or damaged

   First report the loss to the Qatar police and get a police report, as explained in the lost-items-police-report guide. Then apply on eCitizen for a lost or mutilated passport replacement, which costs KES 20,000, more than a normal new passport. Kenya's immigration department asks for a written explanation and supporting documents; for a lost passport, expect to provide the police report and a sworn statement, and for a damaged one, the damaged passport itself. If you need to travel home urgently before a replacement arrives, ask the Embassy what emergency travel document it can issue.

   Read guide: Lost something in Qatar? Reporting it and getting it back →

7. Register a baby born in Qatar

   A Kenyan child born in Qatar first needs the Qatari birth certificate from the Ministry of Public Health, then a Qatar residency on the parent's sponsorship. The birth certificate and residency steps are in the birth-certificate guide. For Kenya, contact the Embassy about registering the birth so your child has Kenyan records, then apply for the child's passport on eCitizen in the same way as an adult, with both parents' IDs. Birth certificates were among the services offered at the Embassy's 2023 mobile consular drive, but confirm the current process with the Embassy before you go.

   Read guide: Newborn in Qatar: birth certificate, passport and residence permit →

8. Sort out your national ID from Qatar

   Kenya is moving to the new digital ID, Maisha Namba, and many services now ask for your ID number. If your ID card is lost, damaged or you never got one, ask the Embassy whether it can take your application in Doha. In June 2023 a State Department for Diaspora Affairs team ran a four-day mobile service at the Embassy that took new and replacement ID card and passport applications, so watch the Embassy's notices for the next drive. Without a valid ID number you may struggle to apply for a passport or open eCitizen services, so fix it early.

9. Get a Kenyan good conduct certificate

   Some Qatari employers, licensing bodies and visa processes for other countries ask for a police clearance from your home country. Kenya's version is the Certificate of Good Conduct from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI). Apply and pay on eCitizen, download the forms, then go to the Embassy to have your fingerprints taken. The Embassy sends them to Nairobi through the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, and the certificate is issued online in your eCitizen account. A Qatar police clearance is a separate document from the Ministry of Interior, covered in the police-clearance guide.

   Read guide: Police clearance certificate (good conduct) in Qatar →

10. Attest documents for Qatar or for Kenya

    Kenyan certificates used in Qatar, such as degrees or marriage certificates, need attestation in Kenya and by Qatar's embassy, then by Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Qatari documents you want to use in Kenya go the other way: Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs first, then the Embassy of Kenya. The exact chain and the Qatar-side steps are in the degree-attestation and marriage-certificate-attestation guides. Ask the Embassy about its own fees and timing before you submit, and keep copies of everything.

    Read guide: Attesting your degree for Qatar: the full chain →

11. Get help with work problems

    If your salary is late, your passport is being held or you are being mistreated, contact the Embassy, which can advise you and speak to employers. A formal claim for unpaid salary or other rights must still be filed in Qatar with the Ministry of Labour, as the labour-complaint guide explains, and the Embassy cannot decide a dispute itself. In an emergency, call Qatar's emergency number 999. Kenya's Diaspora emergency hotline on +254 20 787 6000 and WhatsApp +254 114 757 002 also run 24 hours.

    Read guide: Filing a labour complaint in Qatar: unpaid salary and other disputes →

12. Helping someone come from Kenya for a job

    If a relative or friend is being recruited for Qatar, check that the agency is licensed by Kenya's National Employment Authority (NEA) before any money is paid. Fake Qatar job offers are common: in July 2026 Kenyan police arrested an agency director after a job seeker lost KES 110,000 on a claimed Qatar job. In November 2025 Kenya and Qatar agreed to open a Qatar Visa Centre in Nairobi in early 2026 to handle medical checks, biometrics and contract signing before departure, as these centres do in other countries. Check whether it is operating before your relative travels, and never accept a visit visa in place of a proper work visa.

    Read guide: Common scams in Qatar: fake fine messages, delivery texts, job and rental fraud →

What it costs

Official fees at the time of review. Fees change, so confirm before paying.

Common mistakes

• Letting your passport run down to the last few months; Qatar residency renewal and travel both need a valid passport, and printing can take weeks.
• Getting a new passport and forgetting to move your Qatar residency to the new number.
• Applying through someone else's eCitizen account or paying an agent to 'speed up' a passport.
• Relying on old addresses, phone numbers and opening hours from third-party websites instead of the Embassy's own site.
• Confusing the Kenyan Certificate of Good Conduct with Qatar's police clearance; employers sometimes ask for both.
• Paying a recruitment agent in cash without checking that it is NEA-licensed and without a receipt.
• Waiting until you want to leave Qatar to fix a lost ID or passport; it can delay your exit and your end-of-service payment.
• Expecting the Embassy to settle a salary dispute; the formal claim must go to Qatar's Ministry of Labour.

Questions people ask

Official sources

• Embassy of Kenya in Doha (registration and notices) ↗
• eCitizen Kenya (passports, good conduct) ↗
• The Peninsula: mobile consular services for Kenyans in Qatar (June 2023) ↗
• The Kenya Times: 66-page passport and current fees (Feb 2026) ↗
• The Kenya Times: applying for a certificate of good conduct (Sept 2026) ↗
• Kenyans.co.ke: Qatar Visa Centre in Nairobi and 13,000 jobs (Nov 2025) ↗

Always check the official source before acting. QatarSteps is independent and not a government website.

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