Get a movement pass to travel out of a refugee camp
Department of Refugee Services · sources read 2 Oct 2026
Go in person to the DRS office in your camp or area, explain why you need to travel (for example medical, education or resettlement) and bring any supporting papers. The Commissioner for Refugee Affairs issues the pass, usually in 1 to 3 days, and you must return before it expires.
- Fee
- We couldn't confirm a fee from the official page. Check it there before you pay.
- How long
- 1 to 3 days
- Where
- In person at a Department of Refugee Services office: Kakuma or Dadaab camps, or the Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret or Mombasa offices
What you need
- Your reasons for travel, with supporting documents where you have them (for example a hospital referral or admission letter)
Steps
- Go to the DRS office where you live: Kakuma, Dadaab, Nairobi, Nakuru, Eldoret or Mombasa.
- Present yourself, give your reasons for travel and hand in your supporting documents.
- Collect the pass yourself. Check the expiry date written on it.
- Come back before the pass expires and hand it in to the Refugee Camp Officer.
Watch out
- If you stay out after the pass expires, you can be prosecuted. Offences under the Refugees Act carry up to 6 months in jail, a fine of up to KSh 20,000, or both.
- A movement pass is for a trip. To live outside the camp you need an exemption from the Commissioner for Refugee Affairs instead.
- To travel outside Kenya you need a Convention Travel Document (CTD), not a movement pass.
Who can apply
- Registered refugees and asylum seekers with a genuine reason to travel outside the designated area (camp).
- Reasons include resettlement, medical care, education or humanitarian grounds.
Official sources (5)
- Documentation refugee.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- FAQs refugee.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Refugee Service Guide refugee.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- DRS FAQs (leaflet) refugee.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- The Refugees (General) Regulations, 2024 (L.N. 39 of 2024) refugee.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026