By Patricia Mollyne Mataga
The Ministry of Interior and National Administration has offered a piece of advice to Kenyans with pending 34-page passport applications and have an urgent need to travel abroad.
A statement by Citizen Services Principal Secretary Prof Julius Bitok indicates that such individuals should consider upgrading to 50-page passports.
This is due to a shortage of the 34-page passports.
According to Prof Bitok, the government has already procured the booklets. This means those with urgent needs who applied for the 34-page passports will have to wait a little bit longer.
The PS issued the advice on Thursday, March 21, 2024, when he received 112,700 passports booklets. They included 92,400 50-page (B-Series) and 20,300 66-page (C-Series).
“This consignment is an addition to 50,000 50-page booklets received last week,” PS Bitok said.
Additional booklets that include 34 pages (A-series) have been procured and they are expected to be delivered to the country next week.
With the arrival of the new booklets, the government announced that the issuance of passports would be on a first-in-first-out basis.
“Applications with pending 34-page passports who have an urgent need to travel are advised to upgrade to the 50-page booklet through the e-citizen portal,” the PS announced.
He further noted that no physical visit to the Immigration offices will be needed when upgrading.
Meanwhile, the Ministry unveiled a platform in which an individual who has applied for a passport is yet to pick their processed ones can track the processing progress.
This service can be accessed via SMS number 22222 with the applicant sending in their eCitizen application reference code.
As a way of enhancing passport issuance, the PS announced that they had procured two modern passport printing machines that will be ready for use within the next few days.
“Additional servers have also been installed to stabilize the system and secure relevant data,” the Ministry said.