Hungary will no longer issue Schengen visas to Kenyans without the e-passport, her embassy in Nairobi has announced.
According to a circular, the announcement will take effect as from Saturday, June 1.
The move was arrived at by Hungary Ministry of foreign affairs in April since the machine-readable passports would expire on August 31, 2019.
Read: E-passports Required Before Issuance Of Visa – US Embassy In Nairobi
“The Schengen member states therefore wish to inform the Kenyan public that from June 1, 2019, ONLY the new East African Community biometric e-passport would be accepted for Schengen visa applications,” read the circular.
Schengen visa allows entry into 26 countries including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece and Hungary.
Others are Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Read: Gov’t Suspends Foreign Travel For Civil Servants Without e-Passports
Kenyan passport holders will be required to switch to the new passport by September 2, as the old generation passport will be phased out.
A month ago, the US announced that would not be allowed entry into the country without the new passport.
“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.
Read: New E-Passports Acquisition Deadline Pushed To 2020, DP Ruto Announces
In October last year, the government directed that all Public servants would be required to have an E-passport by February 28 of 2019.
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