hogo74

I'm experiencing some frustration when trying to pay the processing fee for my Kenya Evisa using the required eCitizen platform. Each time I try paying with a US-issued Visa or Mastercard (Citi, Chase, and CapitalOne),the payment fails with a message to please use a card that has 3D Secure enabled. I contacted the payment processor help desk, and they responded that I should talk to my bank(s) to have that feature added/enabled.

I talked to these banks, they don't see the payment attempts, so that's consistent with the charge failing not because it's declined by the banks due to possible fraud, but rather because of the "3D Secure" requirement on the merchant side. The Chase fraud department representative I talked to said that they don't use 3D Secure and cannot add it to the card and that they, like other banks in the US, instead use Verified by Visa.

At this point I'm not quite sure how to proceed, but I imagine that there must be some workaround since I'm surely not the only traveler trying to use a US-issued card for paying for this service. Any insights would be appreciated.

diverx99

I had the same problem with Chase when I tried to buy tickets from Kenya Airways. I eventually had to go through a travel agency (bravofly) to make the purchase.

When we got our evisas chase flagged the second visa as fraud, a call to customer service did let it go through. Maybe another call to customer service with a different rep?

B747-437B

Verified by Visa is just the Visa branding for their 3D-Secure service, so those two things are not anything different.

Unfortunately most US issuers are simply not adopting the global standards which are becoming mandatory in much of the rest of the world and this problem is going to become widespread when trying to use US issued cards abroad in the future. Many big processors in Africa simply blacklist many US issuers because of this, especially in the travel sector where chargebacks can be significantly higher than average. Barclays is a notable exception and their cards are 3DS activated as a default.

hogo74

Thanks for this response. Yes, I had read somewhere that "Verified by Visa" is just the Visa branding for 3D-Secure, but then I can't really make sense of why both Chase and CapitalOne said their cards are "Verified by Visa" enabled but are not being recognized as "3D Secure" by the vendor. Thanks also for the tip about Barclays - unfortunately I don't have a card with them a the moment, but this makes me wish I did.

I reached out to the payment processor again so see if there is any workaround for me to use one of my cards for this payment - the two other options (KCB Cash and Equity Cash) seem to require going to a bank in Kenya which isn't really practical, either.

B747-437B

From my understand (a bit rudimentary as it is from the perspective of an Africa based vendor as explained to me by the processor), Chase does not actually enable VbV but rather bypasses it (ie. no actual 2FA method is used to verify the transaction). As a result, the chargeback risk remains with the vendor/processor rather than with the cardholder/issuer as would be the case in a properly verified transaction. Therefore, the processors simply blacklist all Chase issued cards from processing - they are rejected without even sending them through the network for approval by Chase.

hogo74

Thanks for the responses.

I'm happy to report that after reading through the related discussion on this tripadvisor thread, I was able to use my US-issued Amex to complete the payment. I would never have thought of trying it because Amex isn't listed as one of the payment options, they only show Visa and MC on the credit card payment screen. But you can just type in your Amex info (using the four digits on the front as CVV of course) - the image showing the stylized card with your info as you type it in actually changes to an Amex logo. After hitting submit, the pop-up window that just showed "please used a 3D Secure card" when trying to use a Visa/MC now displayed "Amex Safekey" (which is their implementation of 3D Secure, I guess) for a while before the transaction was approved. I still wasn't asked for any 2FA from the Amex side, but I guess with this Amex card the payment request was actually sent on to the card issuer who approve it rather than being blocked outright by the vendor.

B747-437B

Yes, Amex is actually the best backdoor for many of these situations. India for example mandates 2FA for all online transactions and US-issued Amex invariably work even where 3DS enabled Visa and Mastercard sometimes fail. All Amex worldwide are supposedly enabled for SafeKey.

mangoMan

Thanks hogo74!! I was running into the payment issue with my Chase cards and was getting very frustrated. It did not occur to me to try Amex given that they do not display the Amex logo. Put in my Bonvoy Amex card info and bingo...success!

Maraluvr

Just tried TWO Visa cards and BOTH said "Payment Failed". I called both credit card issuers and they don't even see a payment coming through. My Costco credit card they said is 3D enabled, etc. but the payment is not showing up on their end.

I am so upset to have this happen. Last year when applying for the eVisa it told me to call a number (which was a Visa number) and when I resubmitted the payment, the person on the other end saw it come through and they okayed it. NOT THIS TIME - no payment went through to either of the card issuers.

Those are the only two credit cards I use and I don't want to apply for a AMX card. Not knowing is that payment will not go through either.

As a note, today is "World Tourism Day" and on Facebook, Minister of Kenya Tourism Najib Balala posted a thing about this 'special' day. I replied (in so many ways), your department needs to get their stuff together to allow folks to make payments for their eVisa better.

I am in tears, not getting this to go through. The only other think I can think of is to have my safari ground operator go to a a KCB Bank in Nairobi and pay the fee for me.

cargueiro

I am going to use Amex from now on, nowI have read this thread. I hadn't thought Amex was an option as the logo wasn't advertised.

Until now I have always had to use a visa broker when travelling through Kenya. There are loads online if you Google it and they are quick. Looks like I used ivisa.com last time. These visa brokers have their payment systems set up. The problem is they charge like twice the price of what the visa should cost if you buy it directly from the governmental site.

Kenya really should sort this out. I actively avoid Nairobi as a hub because of the visa issue. At least with the Amex trick the visa costs are not too bad now.

B744F14C172

Seems like if you are going to REQUIRE people to get an eVisa it might be a good idea to build an eVisa system capable of processing eVisas, what absolute idiots they are. AMEX doesn't work.

pandaperth

Just a data point for you all
- Thursday 8:00am I applied for my visa (Kenya time)
- Using my Mastercard
- The Mastercard 3-D Secure window popped open, and I received a text message on my phone with the OTP to use
- Payment went through without a problem

- Friday 3:30pm I received an email from ecitizen.go.ke informing me my visa had been approved
- Went online and there it was

- The Visa fee totalled USD55.20 (standard tourist visa, Australian passport)

B747-437B

With all due respect, the problem is that most US issuers do not implement the international standard security for online payments that is mandatory in most parts of the world. If you look at the data points, pretty much 99% of failed transactions are with US issued cards - those issued pretty much anywhere else in the world can be processed just fine.

The problem isn't the Kenya eVisa system but rather with your card issuer. They are the ones who need to get their act together and implement the basic 2FA systems that the rest of the world does.