Kenya’s Immigration Department Suspends Issuance of Passports

The Kenyan Immigration Department on Tuesday announced the suspension of passport issuance services until the end of the week.

During the period, the system will undergo “unscheduled maintenance” and normal services will resume on Friday, December 27th, 2019, the Directorate of Immigration Services said in a statement.

“Passport Services interrupted today due to unscheduled maintenance. Normal services expected to resume on Friday 27 December 2019,” the department said.

Thousands of Kenyans have been trooping to various immigration centers across the country and abroad to apply for the new e-passports ahead of the March 1st, 2020 deadline.

At least one million Kenyans have so far acquired the digital passports with an estimated 1.5 million still using the old-generation passports, according to figures released by the Immigration Department.

The government had previously announced that the old passports would become invalid on September 1st, 2019 but President Kenyatta pushed the deadline to March, 2020 to give Kenyans more time to get the new digital passports.