Kenyans Reminded To Obtain e-Passports By November 30

In a statement, the director general of immigration, Alexander Muteshi, stated that the East African Community (EAC) Council of Ministers meeting held in Arusha from November 22–29, 2021, had decided to reiterate the deadline.

“In line with this decision, the Directorate of Immigration Services wishes to inform the general public that Kenya is bound to migrate fully to the new East African Community biometric e-passport by 30th November 2022,” Muteshi said.

“Kenyans are therefore hereby advised to acquire the new Biometric e­-passport to avoid any inconveniences,” he continued.

According to this agreement, all EAC member nations must phase out their old generation passports by November 2022.

The State established extra control centers to enable the faster issuance of the travel document within a day of application ahead of the deadline in an effort to ensure prompt service delivery.

The old passports are to be replaced by the newest e-passports which come with a microchip that contains information about the owner that also corresponds to the data in the passport book.

Information on the chip can be compared to information that is graphically shown on the booklet using the e-passport.

The security of the e-passport prevents duplication and tampering, and also makes it easier to recognize imposters.

EAC had instructed its members to start issuing the new digital passport as of January 31, 2018.

The government extended the earlier deadline from December 31, 2021, to November 2022 to enable more Kenyans to obtain the new e-passport.