Immigration receives 112,700 passport booklets to ease backlog

Immigration and Citizen Services PS Julius Bitok, Director General Immigration Evelyn Cheluget and other officials receive a consignment of passport booklets at the Nyayo House, Nairobi, on March 21, 2024. [Collins Oduor, Standard]

The Directorate of Immigration Services has received 112,700 passport printing booklets to ease the passport backlog.

The booklets received on Wednesday evening, comprise of 92,400, for 50 page (B-series) and 20,300, for 66 page (C- series).

Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok, in a statement, noted that the consignment is an addition to 50,000, for 50-page booklets received last week.

"Additional booklets, including the 34-page (A-series), have already been procured and are expected in the country from next month," Bitok said.

He said that the issuance of passports will be prioritised on a first-in first-out basis.

Bitok advised Kenyans with pending 34- page passports who have an urgent need to travel to upgrade their applications to the 50-page booklet through the e-citizen portal.

"Applicants with pending applications and those who are yet to collect their passports can track the status of their applications by sending an SMS with their eCitizen application reference code to 22222," he said.

Bitok announced that the government has procured two modern passport printing machines that will be ready for commissioning by April 2024.

"Additional servers have also been installed to stabilise the system and secure relevant data," Bitok said.

This, he said is to enhance the passport issuance capacity and reduce the waiting time.

"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," he said.