Box number first
Write the P.O. Box line above the town and the postal code. A residential street address without a box number is the most common reason a Kenya-bound item sits at a sorting office instead of moving.
Kenya-bound
Sending a parcel to Kenya from the United States
The thing families most often pack for relatives in Nairobi or Kisumu is the one thing the postal country listing refuses outright. Used clothing, bedding, textiles and fabrics are on Kenya's prohibited list, not its restricted list, so a barrel of hand-me-downs is not a permit problem. It is not mailable. Everything below was read on 2026-08-07 from the postal listing for Kenya and from the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Country listing, datedLevies itemizedDomestic leg priced live
Seventy pounds, and a short banned list
Kenya takes a heavier parcel than most destinations. What it will not take is narrower than people expect, and clothing is on it.
The line that stops most care packages
Kenya's prohibitions run to five entries, and the last one does the damage: “Used clothing, bedding and other similar items, textile and fabrics.” That covers the shoes, the coats, the bed linen and the offcuts of fabric that make up a large share of what Americans send to family there. A prohibition is absolute. There is no form that fixes it and no fee that buys past it.
The same listing carries a restriction that reads the other way, saying second-hand clothing rules bear on sale rather than on personal effects. The two entries sit in different sections and pull in different directions, which is exactly the kind of ambiguity that gets settled at the border by whoever opens the box. Treat the prohibition as the operative line. If the contents have been worn or slept in, send something new instead, keep the receipt inside the parcel, and write the description on the form in words a customs officer will read the same way you meant them.
Four other entries complete the list: coins, banknotes, currency notes, traveler's checks, platinum, gold or silver whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewelry and other valuables; firearms and articles resembling deadly weapons, a phrase broad enough to catch replicas and convincing toys; indecent or obscene material; and radioactive materials.
What each postal product will carry
| Product | Weight ceiling | Longest side | Length plus girth | Customs form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail Express International | 70 lb | 36 in | 79 in | PS Form 2976-B inside PS Form 2976-E |
| Priority Mail International | 70 lb | 42 in | 79 in | PS Form 2976-A inside PS Form 2976-E |
| First-Class Package International Service | 4 lb | Sizes per the international manual | PS Form 2976 | |
| First-Class Mail International | 3.5 oz letters | Sizes per the international manual | None, unless otherwise required | |
| Airmail M-bags | 66 lb | Sack, not a box | PS Form 2976 | |
Two rows are worth pausing on. The 70 lb ceiling on both Priority Mail products is the top of the postal range, four pounds above the figure that appears on a good many other country listings, so a heavy box is more likely to be stopped by the 79-inch length-and-girth limit than by the scale. And the M-bag row is open, which matters for printed matter: a congregation shipping hymnals or a school sending textbooks can use the bulk sack rather than paying parcel weight on every carton.
Kenya's price group is 9 for both Priority Mail products and 5 for First-Class Package International Service, so the two ends of the range are not priced off the same table. Global Express Guaranteed, the fastest of the postal options, has been suspended to this destination since September 29 2024 and cannot be bought at any price. Restricted delivery, delivery duty paid, international postal money orders and international reply coupons are all listed as unavailable as well.
Address it the way Kenya delivers
The Postal Corporation of Kenya asks senders to put the addressee's post office box number and telephone number on the item. That request is not a formality. Box delivery is the normal arrangement across much of the country, and a parcel addressed only to a street and an estate name has nowhere obvious to land.
A phone that answers
Put the recipient's mobile number on the customs form as well as the label. Collection notices and duty demands are handled by phone, and an unreachable addressee is an item that ages on a shelf.
Fifty-four named points
The listing enumerates the served locations rather than saying all of Kenya, running from Nairobi and Mombasa down to small towns. Check the destination town is on it before buying postage.
Kenya's reciprocal express product is called Speedpost, which is the name that appears in the tracking once the item is handed across. It is the same shipment, not a transfer to a new carrier.
What is charged on arrival
Kenya taxes imported goods in layers, and the layers stack on a base that already includes what you paid to ship the box. The figures below come from the Kenya Revenue Authority customs page read on 2026-08-07.
| Charge | Rate | Applied to |
|---|---|---|
| Import duty | Depends on the tariff line | The customs value of the goods. Rates vary by product classification rather than sitting at one number. |
| Value added tax | 16 percent | Cost, insurance and freight plus the import duty already added |
| Import declaration fee | 2 percent | The customs value |
| Railway development levy | 1.5 percent | The cost, insurance and freight value |
Notice what is not on that page: any threshold below which a small parcel escapes assessment. The concession the Kenya Revenue Authority does publish, worth five hundred United States dollars for personal and household goods, is written for passengers arriving with baggage and their used personal effects, not for items arriving by post. Nothing read on 2026-08-07 promises a mailed gift a free pass, so budget for the recipient being asked to pay before the item is released.
Permits nobody expects to need
The restrictions section is short and specific in a way that suggests each entry has a history behind it. These are the ones that catch ordinary parcels.
- Scouting insignia. Boy Scout and Girl Guide badges and insignia require authorization from Kenya's commissioner for the movement. A pack of patches mailed to a troop is a restricted import.
- Military uniforms. Admitted only with a permit from the Kenyan government, which covers surplus jackets and reproduction kit as readily as anything current.
- Game traps. Permission from the Chief Game Warden is required. Snares and traps sold as pest control in an American hardware aisle fall inside this.
- Plants. An import permit from the Ministry of Agriculture is needed before seeds, cuttings or live plants may be sent.
- Merchandise generally. Many categories of goods need authorization from the Director of Trade and Supplies, held by the person receiving the item. Settle that with the addressee before packing rather than after the item lands.
How this lane gets priced
No price appears on this page, and that is deliberate. A Kenya-bound parcel is not something an automated quote can settle honestly: the admissibility question comes first, the levies land on the recipient rather than the sender, and what is actually moving on the lane changes week to week. Send the weight, the dimensions and a plain description of the contents through freight review and a person works out what it costs and whether it can go at all.
Parcels moving inside the United States are a different matter and price instantly. Put two ZIP codes into the calculator and the live rates come back in seconds, including the domestic leg to a freight forwarder if that is the route you end up taking.
Common questions
Can I mail used clothes to Kenya?
No. Used clothing, bedding and other similar items, textile and fabrics sit on Kenya's prohibited list in the postal country listing, which is the list of things that are not mailable at all rather than the list of things that need a permit.
How heavy can a parcel to Kenya be?
70 lb on both Priority Mail Express International and Priority Mail International, which is the top of the postal range and four pounds above what a number of other destinations accept. The small-packet product, First-Class Package International Service, tops out at 4 lb regardless.
Does mail to Kenya need a post office box in the address?
The Postal Corporation of Kenya asks for the addressee's post office box number and telephone number on the item. Street delivery is not the norm for much of the country, so a box number and a working phone are what get a parcel handed over.
What does Kenya charge when the parcel lands?
The Kenya Revenue Authority page read for this guide lists value added tax at 16 percent on cost, insurance and freight plus duty, an import declaration fee of 2 percent of the customs value, and a railway development levy of 1.5 percent. Duty itself depends on the tariff line the goods fall under.
Is postal service to Kenya suspended?
No. Kenya did not appear anywhere on the international service disruption list when it was checked on 2026-08-07. Thirteen countries did, so the list is worth a look on the morning you mail rather than the week before.
Where these rules come from
- Postal Service, Individual Country Listing for Kenya — prohibitions, restrictions, observations, customs forms, product ceilings and served locations. Read 2026-08-07.
- Postal Service, Country Price Groups and Weight Limits — the 70 lb ceiling and the price groups quoted above. Read 2026-08-07.
- Postal Service, international service disruptions — checked for a Kenya entry, which was absent. Read 2026-08-07.
- Kenya Revenue Authority, customs and border control questions — value added tax, import declaration fee, railway development levy and the passenger concession. Read 2026-08-07.
Postal country conditions and Kenyan tax rules are both revised without notice. Treat everything above as what those pages said on the date shown, and read them again on the day you mail.