The Kenyan Government has today announced that it has extended the deadline for use of the old Kenyan passport as a travel document to March 2020. The previous deadline was set as August 2019.
Kenya introduced a new Kenyan passport in 2017 and set a deadline for the operation of the old passport. The new Kenyan passport is an ePassport and has new features that include;
- Electronic chip holding the same information as the old model passport
- Biometric identifier
- Digital photograph of the passport holder
- Security features to prevent unauthorized use and forgery.
- Details of the ePassport will be registered with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
The previous deadline led to many Kenyans flocking the various immigration centres to apply for a passport before the end of August. It looked unlikely that the Immigration department would be able to meet the demand. Kenyans in diaspora have suffered because the embassies close to them haven’t yet started issuing the new passport. Currently, The Kenyan Embassy in Washington DC is the only Kenyan embassy issuing the new Kenyan passport.
The immigration centres that are currently processing the new Kenyan passports in Kenya are in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Kisii, Eldoret, and Embu. The passports are also being issued at the Kenyan embassy in Washington DC. At the centres, immigration officials will receive your application plus required documents and also take your fingerprints, digital photo and signature.