The government has opened four new Immigration centres in the country and six others in the diaspora as it seeks to ease congestion in the issuance of the new digital passports ahead of the deadline.
According to the Director-General of Immigration, Mr Alex Muteshi, the government has also opened three centres in Europe – Berlin, Paris and London –, one in Washington DC in the United States, another in the Gulf city of Dubai, and in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In Kenya, the new stations are located in Nakuru, Kisii, Eldoret and Embu.
“The four local centres are now operational, but will be officially be launched next week by the Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i. Those in the diaspora will also be opened soon to help Kenyans living there acquire e-passports easily,” said Mr Muteshi.
NEW APPLICANTS
Mr Muteshi revealed that the centres will be serving at least 1,500 new applicants daily to help ease the pressure and congestion at its headquarters in Nyayo House, Nairobi.
The shift to e-passport began in August 2017 with old travel documents set to become unusable on September 1, 2019.
As the deadline looms, long queues have been witnessed at Nyayo House as Kenyans line up as early as 4am to apply for the e-passports.
Changing the critical travel documents from the old ones has also been a nightmare for Kenyans living in the diaspora with many complaining of lack of the Immigration services and some being forced to travel back home to apply for new passports.
