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Ruto e-passport order creates travel mess in embassies

DP announced a new deadline of 2020, noting the initial deadline of August 31 this year was not practical

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by eliud kibii

Health29 May 2019 - 17:11
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In Summary


• Speaking to Kenyans living in Italy on December 2 last year, DP Ruto announced a new deadline of 2020, noting the initial deadline of August 31 this year was not practical.

• Some embassies have, however, communicated that the August 31 deadline still stands.

Deputy President William Ruto

An announcement by Deputy President William Ruto to extend the deadline to acquire the e-passport to 2020 is causing confusion among foreign missions in Nairobi.

Speaking to Kenyans living in Italy on December 2 last year, DP Ruto announced a new deadline of 2020, noting the initial deadline of August 31 this year was impractical.

“The deadline is soon approaching and only a small fraction has managed to upgrade their passports to the new e-Passport. The backlog at the immigration will not allow us to achieve this,” Ruto said.

Some embassies have, however, communicated that the initial deadline stands.

“#ConsularAffairs - Please note that according to the announcement of the Kenyan Government, the old Kenyan passports will expire on 01.09.2019. The Embassy of Belgium in Nairobi will ONLY accept the new East African Community biometric e-Passports for Schengen visa applications,” the Embassy of Belgium tweeted on Wednesday.

Belgium was the second embassy to make the announcement after the US on April 30, which was retracted as soon as May 1.

In the initial communication, the US Embassy said, "All travelers to the United States from Kenya must have a passport valid for at least six months from date of entry. Therefore, U.S. Embassy Nairobi can no longer place U.S. visas in the previously issued non-digital passport expiring August 31, 2019."

It then sent another statement saying, “Visa applicants may apply for a US visa with a non-digital Kenyan passport. We will place a US visa in a non-digital passport until further notice. Holders of current US visas do not need to take any action.”

That the US, one of the countries that have very strict immigration rules and requirements, flip-flopped on the issue in such a short time shows the level of confusion among the foreign missions.

Interviews with various embassies whose officials did not want to go on record said they are yet to receive any communication in regards to the extension. Some said they will continue issuing visas on the old passport.

“It’s not a worry. We shall cross that bridge in August. It only started, relax,” Foreign Affairs PS Macharia Kamau told the Star when asked if they had communicated to missions in Nairobi on any development.

Immigration Services director Alexander Muteshi, however, confirmed to the Star that the deadline remains September 1 this year.

At the time the Deputy President made the announcement, only about 400,000 out of more than 2.5 million passport holders had renewed the travel document.

The only missions that were set to receive applications for the new passport starting January 24 were in the US (Washington DC), UK, Germany, France, UAE (Dubai), Germany and South Africa.

Essentially, these meant Kenyans in diaspora would be forced to either travel to these states or back home to renew their travel document, which is a tedious process at Immigration office at Nyayo House. Although the application is online, applicants have to drop their hard copies at Immigration.

MFA had on November 20 last year wrote to Kenya’s foreign missions asking them to prepare for the issuance of the new passports.


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