Uber has restored Visa card payments for riders in Kenya, eight months after dropping the option in response to rising payment costs.

The move reverses a decision that had forced Visa users in the country to rely on M-PESA, cash and other payment methods. It comes as the ride-hailing giant reviews costs across its business, including a global restructuring that will cut about 3,300 jobs.

The Visa option is now live in the Uber app, where riders are prompted to add their card with a message that reads, "Pay with Visa! Add your Visa card and enjoy a seamless payment experience on Uber." Visa cards now appear alongside M-PESA, PayPal and Airtel Money in the payment menu.

Uber stopped accepting Visa cards in Kenya in January after reviewing its payment methods in the market. At the time, the company said rising global payment costs had prompted the change. It did not disclose how much it paid to process Visa transactions, or why Visa was affected while other card and payment options remained available.

"Payment costs globally are on the rise, which impacts businesses and their consumers," an Uber spokesperson told TechCabal in January. "We regularly review our payment methods on a market-by-market basis to ensure we're keeping costs reasonable while balancing any potential impact on consumer experience. We've taken this step as a result of this review process."

The suspension had highlighted the outsized role of mobile money in Kenya, where Safaricom's M-PESA has long been the dominant digital payment method and card penetration for everyday transactions remains comparatively low. That made the impact of the Visa suspension narrower for many local riders than it might be in card-heavy markets, even as it inconvenienced users who preferred cards — including visitors and riders linking international accounts.

The reversal comes amid broader cost-cutting at Uber. On Wednesday, the company said it would cut about 3,300 corporate jobs — roughly 10% of its workforce — in its largest round of layoffs since the Covid-19 pandemic. Uber had about 34,000 employees globally at the end of 2025.

Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi told Reuters that the restructuring would reduce management layers and simplify team structures. The company also plans to consolidate teams and reduce fully remote roles to about 1% of its workforce.

For Kenyan riders, the change restores a payment option that had been unavailable for most of the year, while Mastercard and local payment methods continued to function on the platform throughout. Uber has not publicly detailed what changed between January and now — whether costs were renegotiated or other commercial terms shifted — so the reasoning behind the reinstatement remains unexplained.

The return of Visa payments also comes as Uber scales back its presence in parts of Africa. The company halted operations in Nigeria and Uganda on September 2 after reviewing its business in the two markets. Uber told the BBC that the decision was limited to those countries and would not affect its operations elsewhere on the continent. Together, the two moves signal that Uber's engagement with the region is being reassessed market by market, with Kenya retaining a fuller set of payment options even as the company exits less viable markets.