Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has said the turnaround time for processing passports from the day of application to the printing stage will be 24 hours.
In a statement on Friday, September 27, 2024, Kindiki stated that acquiring modern equipment at the Department of Immigration Services had significantly reduced the backlog of unprocessed passports.
“Reforms in the Immigration and Citizen Services have resulted in the resolution of the historical backlog in the processing of passports. 95,000 passports remain uncollected and applicants are encouraged to collect them from the Immigration offices.
“With the acquisition of two additional modern and high-capacity printers, resolution of procurement constraints and settlement of pending supplier bills, the passport processing time has been reduced to seven days from the date of application and will be further reduced to three days by the end of this year and eventually to 24 hours,” Kindiki said.
Kindiki also revealed that the State had opened and operationalized two additional regional offices to facilitate easier access to services for persons seeking passports and other citizenship documents in Bungoma and Kericho counties.
Report on passport delays
This comes after a report by the Commission on Administrative Justice in 2023 revealed glaring loopholes at the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services.
In the report, CAJ concluded that passport processing delays were a result of the frequent breakdown of the printing machines and also the delays in the procurement of blank passport booklets of certain categories of passports.
“Delays in the processing of passports and the unavailability of a particular passport series on the e-citizen platform were found to be occasioned majorly by two factors; delays in the approval of the procurement of blank passport booklets, and, the continuous breakdown of printing machines at the Department of Immigration,” CAJ chairperson Florence Kajuju stated.
The report also indicated that several Kenyans had lost their money after immigration officials had edited their details and upgraded their passport applications to higher-page booklets.
The passport charges for applying for a 34-page passport shot from Ksh4,500 to Ksh7,500 while that of a 50-page ordinary passport rose from Ksh6,000 to Ksh9,500.
Similarly, registration for a birth certificate shot from Ksh50 to Ksh200, while the replacement of a lost ID card went from Ksh100 to Ksh1,000 in the new changes.
