The Immigration department has directed individuals with urgent need of a passport who applied for the 34-page booklet to upgrade it to the 50-page document.
According to a statement signed by the Principal Secretary (PS) Julius Bitok, the department had just received the 50-page booklets and would be printing and issuing passports to applications under that category.
This means that the said applicants who used Ksh4,450 during application will pay an additional Ksh1,500 as the 50 paged booklets cost Ksh6,050.
Further, the statement indicated that applicants could complete the upgrade process through the eCitizen portal and get the passports on a first-in-first-out basis.
“Applicants with pending 34-page passports who have an urgent need to travel are advised to upgrade their applications to the 50-page booklet through the eCitizen portal.
“No physical visit to Immigration offices is necessary to apply for the upgrade. The issuance of passports will be prioritized on a first-in-first-out basis,” the statement read in part.
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Passport Booklets Received
On the other hand, the department detailed that those who applied for the 34 paged passports will receive them in April explaining that the documents will be received then.
However, the B-series booklets, the 50 paged documents that cost Ksh6,050 and the C- series, the 66 paged booklets that cost Ksh7,550 were available for printing.
“Additional booklets, including the 34-page (A-series), have already been procured and are expected in the country from next month,
“The Directorate of Immigration Services has received 112,700passport booklets comprising 92,400,50-page (B-series) and 20,300,66-page (C- series) last evening,” added Bitok.
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Procurement of New Printers
On the other hand, the statement indicated that the directorate had procured two modern passport printing machines that will be commissioned in April to accommodate high number of applications.
“To enhance the passport issuance capacity and reduce the waiting time, the Directorate has procured two modern passport printing machines that will be ready for commissioning by April 2024.
“Additional servers have also been installed to stabilize the system and secure relevant data,” the statement noted.
At the same time, the PS directed applicants who were yet to collect their passports to track the status of their applications by sending an SMS with their eCitizen application reference code to 22222.
“The Directorate is currently undertaking a comprehensive infrastructural upgrade of its facilities to provide a user-friendly environment and to accommodate the high rise in the number of clients.”
