FALSE: Saudi Arabia Has Not Banned Kenyans From Entering or Working in the Kingdom
Claim
A viral tiktok post claims that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced that, starting the following month, Saudi Arabia will no longer allow Kenyans, male or female, including domestic workers into the country.
ENGAGEMENT:
The TikTok post containing the claim had 211 likes, 54 comments and 8 shares at the time it was captured. The TikTok account did not appear to publish the alleged announcement as an original news report but instead shared it in the form of a screenshot of a purported news graphic.
Findings:
There is no evidence from Saudi Arabia’s official communication channels that Mohammed bin Salman or the Saudi government has announced a ban on Kenyan nationals.
We queried the Debunk Info Verifier, a tool used to search and verify information online, and its results found no confirmed official ban on Kenyan nationals entering or working in Saudi Arabia. Its verification noted that the Kenyan Embassy in Riyadh had rejected claims of a blanket employment ban on Kenyan workers. It also found that Saudi Arabia’s wider immigration enforcement measures affect multiple nationalities and should not be interpreted as a Kenya-specific ban. The verifier further noted that claims about a possible temporary restriction on Kenyans travelling to Saudi Arabia remained proposals under discussion in Kenya, rather than an established Saudi policy.
We also reviewed official Saudi Arabia’s communications and found no announcement of a general ban on Kenyans entering or working in Saudi Arabia.
This is further supported by a public notice issued by the Kenya Embassy in Riyadh on September 10, 2026, specifically addressing the viral claim. The Embassy said it had taken note of information circulating on social media about an alleged ban on Kenyan nationals working in Saudi Arabia from the following month. It stated that it had not received any official communication or information indicating that such a measure existed, and that it had no information concerning a general ban on the employment of Kenyan nationals in the Kingdom.
The Embassy urged Kenyans to exercise caution with information circulating on social media and said it remained in close engagement with the relevant Saudi authorities. It further said that any important developments would be communicated through its established official channels.
We also found no official Saudi statement matching the quote attributed to Mohammed bin Salman in the viral post.
On the contrary, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development continued to operate official services for recruiting and managing domestic workers from outside the Kingdom during September 2026.
Saudi Arabia’s official news agency, SPA, also reported on September 6 about a Saudi government programme being conducted in Kenya, involving Kenyan participants.
We conducted a Google reverse image search on the graphic and found that the same image had been widely circulated across social media platforms and was attributed to Kenyans.co.ke.
Kenyans.co.ke is an established Kenyan digital news publication. Its website identifies a newsroom comprising journalists, editors, reporters and other media professionals, while its current website shows ongoing news publishing. The publication has also been recognised by the Reuters Institute Digital News Report among Kenya’s leading news sites.
We therefore examined whether the graphic circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms was genuinely published by Kenyans.co.ke
However, a review of the social media channels linked through the Kenyans.co.ke website did not locate the graphic or an accompanying post published by the news outlet.
There are also inconsistencies between the viral graphic and the graphics used by Kenyans.co.ke. The graphic circulating on TikTok and other social media platforms does not contain a date, whereas graphics published by Kenyans.co.ke typically display the date directly below the name of the publication. The viral graphic also differs in font styling and branding, including the appearance of the letter “K” in the Kenyans.co.ke branding on its published graphics, which is not visible on the circulating graphic.
Methodology
Queried the Debunk Info Verifier to assess information relating to the alleged ban on Kenyan nationals entering or working in Saudi Arabia.
Reviewed Saudi Arabia’s official communications, including the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), to establish whether there was any official announcement of a general ban on Kenyans entering or working in the Kingdom.
Searched for the statement attributed to Mohammed bin Salman to determine whether the quoted statement appeared in Saudi Arabia’s official communications.
Reviewed a public notice issued by the Kenya Embassy in Riyadh on September 10, 2026, which specifically addressed the alleged ban circulating on social media.
Reviewed official services from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) to establish whether services for recruiting and managing domestic workers from outside the Kingdom continued to operate during September 2026.
Reviewed Kenyans.co.ke’s official website and About Us page to establish whether the publication was an active and legitimate news source.
Reviewed the social media channels linked through Kenyans.co.ke’s website to determine whether the viral graphic had been published by the outlet.
Compared the viral graphic with graphics published by Kenyans.co.ke, examining elements such as the date placement, font style and publication branding.
Cross-checked the information obtained from these sources against the claim to determine whether there was evidence supporting the alleged ban.
Verdict: FALSE.
There is no official evidence that Saudi Arabia has banned Kenyans from entering or working in the country, nor that Mohammed bin Salman made the statement circulating online.