Kyle Jarvis was first called up to the Zimbabwe squad even before he had made his first-class debut, for the ODI series against the touring Kenyan team in 2009. The squad also marked a comeback for star wicketkeeper-batsman Tatenda Taibu in the national team. Jarvis was also picked for the Zimbabwe XI to play the Kenyans in the ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture. Jarvis made his debut in the 1st ODI at Harare. He took 3 wickets for just 36 runs. He eventually took 5 wickets on tour at an economy rate of 5.78.

Following his performances on his maiden tour, he was picked for the tour to Bangladesh in 2009. The tour was not particularly good for Jarvis taking just five wickets from four matches, at a cost of 161 runs. An economy rate of 6.00 was only better than part-timer Malcolm Waller's 7.50; his bowling average of 32.20.

Jarvis made his first-class debut in an ICC Intercontinental Cup fixture against Kenya played out at the Kwekwe Sports Club. Jarvis took 2 wickets on debut.

He played his debut Logan Cup match for Mashonaland Eagles, taking match figures of 6/60.

He made his Test cricket debut for Zimbabwe against Bangladesh at Harare on 4 August 2011. The match marked Zimbabwe's return to Test cricket after a six-year absence. He went on to play in Zimbabwe's one-off Tests against Pakistan and New Zealand later in 2011, taking a five-wicket haul (5–64) in the second innings of the New Zealand Test.^[8]

After the New Zealand home series, Jarvis was included on the Zimbabwean tour to the West Indies in March 2013, where he bettered his 5 wickets for 64 runs against New Zealand with a new Test best of 5 for 54 in the first Test at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. He subsequently played in the ODI and T20 fixtures in that tour.

Jarvis was also picked in the April 2013 series against the touring Bangladeshis. He took nine wickets in the two match Test series, at an average of 33.33, with an innings best of 4–40 in the first Test at the Harare Sports Club. He also featured in the ODI series against Bangladesh, playing two out of the three matches but only managing to take three wickets at an average of 38.33. He did not play any of the subsequent T20 matches.

On 18 August 2013, Jarvis announced he had retired from international cricket to pursue a county contract with Lancashire in England.^[9][10] In September 2017, Jarvis left Lancashire, to return to Zimbabwe to play international cricket.^[11] In October 2017, he was included in Zimbabwe’s Test squad for series against West Indies.^[12]