Gov’t Opens Four Local E-Passport Application Centers

The office of immigration has opened four new immigration centers for issuance of E- passports in Nakuru, Kisii, Eldoret and Embu to ease congestion at the Nyayo house headquarters in Nairobi.

“The four local centres are now operational, but will be officially be launched next week by the Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i. Those in the diaspora will also be opened soon to help Kenyans living there acquire e-passports easily,” said Mr Alex Muteshi,Director-General of Immigration.

This centers will be serving at least 1500 people daily and will immensely reduce the number of people in Nairobi.

Kenya had last month opened six centres in different regions like USA, Asia, Middle East, Europe and South Africa for diaspora citizens

The new centres will be based at Washington DC (United States), Beijing (China), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), London (United Kingdom), Paris (France), and Pretoria (South Africa).

Previously, those seeking to get the new generation passports have been forced to travel to Nairobi, which saw very few people acquire the e-passports.

Read: E-passports Required Before Issuance Of Visa – US Embassy In Nairobi

Last year, Deputy President William Ruto said only 400,000 out of the 2.5 million passport holders in Kenya had acquired the new generation passport.

September 1 was announced as the deadline for the acquisition of the e-passport for Kenyans, but there are possibilities of extending the same to 2020.

Last month, the government suspended foreign travel for all civil servants without e-passports, until they acquire one.

The digital passport, which is embedded with an electronic chip, is part of global efforts to curb travel fraud by making it difficult to produce a fake passport.

Last month, the United States of America revised their visa issuance policy stating that only those with the new passports will be allowed entry into the country.

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