You have 10 days to acquire your e-passport

Kenyans who have been traveling on the old passports have 10 days to acquire the new e-passport. This means that from March 1, 2020 the old passports will become invalid for travel. The Immigration Department started to process and issue the East African Community e-passport to conform to the requirements of the regional bloc in 2017.

E-PASSPORT

The Common East African e-passport is meant to enhance the integration and cross-border management agenda and has a chip embedded with the holder’s details and bio-data. The e-passport, offers additional security checks and it is difficult to produce duplicates. According to the immigration, the data base is enhanced with Automated Fingerprint Verification System (AFIS) that guards against multiple passport issuance to the same person. In July 2019, the immigration department changed the format of acquiring the e-passport in order to minimize the long hours persons applying and collecting their passports spend in queues, as had been the case in the past.

APPLICATION

Kenyans seeking to submit their e-passport applications are now only required to book an appointment in the e-Citizen portal specifying the date, time and station of your convenience. However, some passport applicants have been exempted from the process. These include those who are sick and have urgent appointments to travel abroad for medical attention. Also exempted are students on scholarships that require immediate travel abroad, public servants on urgent official assignments aboard and business executives on urgent official business visits outside the country. However, they will be required to provide evidence. – nairobinews.nation.co.ke