Kenya will issue its diaspora citizens with the new e-Passports across six centres in different regions like USA, Asia, Middle East, Europe and South Africa.
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.
Read: Public Servants Required To Have E-Passports By February
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.
In a tweet, the embassy indicated that travelers with a valid US visa may travel with their current visa in the old passport but must also have a new e-passport for entry.
Read: Gov’t Suspends Foreign Travel For Civil Servants Without e-Passports
“US visas & non-digital Kenyan passports: U.S. visa applicants may make an appointment using old Kenyan passport but must have new e-passport before the visa can be issued. Passports must be valid for 6 months upon entry & non-digital passports expire Aug 31, 2019,” tweeted the US Embassy in Nairobi.
The department of immigration however clarified that one could make an application with the old passports but the visas would only be issued once the applicant produces the e-passport.
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