My first post here. My wife and I are considering a move to Nairobi in order to support her career. She has lived there before and is deeply connected with how things work there. On the other hand, I will basically be showing up and figuring out what to do with myself. I have a long career in R&D doing product development on a variety of high tech electro-mechanical products (currently doing life science instruments) as both an individual contributor and manager (currently director level with a top tier company). My question for you existing expats there is what is the likelihood of finding a challenging product development job there? If any exist, where would I look? Otherwise, where is it companies recruit for Sr level talent for the various manufacturing companies there?
Or, if anyone wants to chime in on the joys of being a non-working expat there, I'm all ears.
Thanks!
Work or no work in Nairobi
Hello. Firstly, to legally work in Kenya you must have a work permit. Basically two options are probably open to you:
Search for and apply for a job in Kenya. The employer facilitates an application for a work permit (Class D). You must be in your home country during the application process (until the permit is issued). This specific rule is being rigorously applied since the governments crackdown on immigration, last year. I think that the best place to start looking for work is online.
The jobs market is very competitive, as there are a lot of well educated Kenyans who are out of work. It is one reason why the government's agenda is to try and replace expat workers with local workers, wherever possible. If you do obtain a work permit, it would be valid for 2 years, during which time, a Kenyan worker would be trained to do the same job, then take over
You register your own company and apply for a Class G Permit. One of the requirements for this is that you have a minimum $100,000 capital to invest.
As for being a non-working expat. I have experience of that and lived in Kenya on a Class K Permit. You can apply if you are over 35 and have an income of $24,000 minimum, derived from sources other than work. Paid employment is prohibited, but I did some voluntary work with a local charity, one of two days a week. Overall, I often felt under occupied and bored, as I was previously working full time. If I liked gardening, for example, I'd have been kept busy.........but I don't, so I wasn't!
We did some property development, in which my (Kenyan) wife and I were both involved - buying and improving while living in a property can't really be proven to be 'working' and it gave me something to do for a few months.
extremely helpful--thanks!
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