Your Pre-Departure Checklist: The 30 Days Before You Fly
The permit is approved and the ticket is booked. The next thirty days decide whether your first month abroad is steady or stressful. Work through this in order.
30 days out — contract and compliance
- Read your contract in full. Confirm salary, hours, overtime rate, accommodation terms, deductions and notice period — in writing.
- Verify who pays for what: flight, permit, medicals, agency fees, first-month accommodation.
- Confirm your permit or visa vignette details match your passport exactly, including the spelling of your name.
- Complete any required medicals, vaccinations and police clearance, and collect the certificates.
21 days out — documents and money
- Make certified copies of your passport, permit, contract, certificates and registration. Keep one physical set and one encrypted digital set.
- Open or confirm a bank account that can receive international transfers, and tell your Kenyan bank you are travelling.
- Carry enough foreign currency for two to three weeks — first salaries are rarely immediate.
- Arrange travel and health insurance covering the gap before employer cover begins.
14 days out — logistics on the ground
- Confirm first-night accommodation and the exact address in writing, plus a backup.
- Confirm airport pickup, or plan the route from the airport with cost and travel time.
- Save your employer’s contact, your consultant’s contact and the Kenyan mission’s contact offline on your phone.
- Check baggage allowance against the actual ticket — not the airline’s general policy.
7 days out — packing and orientation
- Pack for the season you are arriving into, not the season you are leaving.
- Carry original documents in hand luggage. Never in the hold.
- Attend a pre-departure briefing: workplace culture, cost of living, transport, what is customary and what is not.
- Leave a copy of your full itinerary and documents with family in Kenya.
Landing the job is half the journey. The other half is the first month — and it goes far better when someone has walked you through it in advance.
Departure day
Arrive at JKIA at least three hours before an international departure. Carry your contract, permit, invitation or employer letter and return or onward documentation in an accessible folder — immigration on both ends may ask. Message someone when you land.
Every Esfrasi placement includes a pre-departure briefing and a check-in after you have started work. Talk to us before you fly.