More than 50,000 passports ready for collection, PS Bitok says

Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok says 58,330 passports are ready for collection across the country.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, March 5, Bitok urged Kenyans whose passports are ready for collection, to do so from their respective Immigration offices.

"Currently, 58,330 passports are yet to be collected from immigration offices across the country. We urge applicants who have already been notified that their passports are ready to collect them as soon as possible to free up storage space," said Bitok.

He further advised applicants whose process has not yet started that they will be served on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the availability of booklets paid for by the applicants.

"The Directorate of Immigration Services has intensified its operations to process and print passports. Applications will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to the availability of specific booklets determined by the number of pages paid for by each applicant," the statement said.

Over 20,000 passports are available for collection in Nairobi, while other cities such as Kisumu, Mombasa, and Nakuru have 6,087, 5,759, and 4,466 passports respectively.

His statement comes amid a passport delay crisis that has left many Kenyans queuing daily at Nyayo House without any help.

A month ago, the government announced that the delay was caused by a shortage of printing machines, a problem it promised to resolve.