Immigration offices are seeking to change their headquarters from the current Nyayo House to a different location.

Speaking to journalists on Friday, September 27, 2024, Principal Secretary for the State Department of Immigration and Citizen Services Julius Bitok said that the move is part of a wider scheme to correct the image of the department.

“We have made a proposal that soon, we may need to get a new address to help us get that new face. Our current address seems to have been tainted with so many past issues,” Bitok remarked.

He also revealed that part of the new rebranding bid will see the department employ additional staff to cater for the growing number of Kenyans in need of citizen services.

In addressing the long queues which have become synonymous with passport seekers at the Nyayo House, PS Bitok said his department would increase the number of service counters from the current 14 to a total of 40.

“We are working to ensure that we rebrand immigration. First, we have come up with a new tagline ‘thinking beyond the borders.’ Secondly, we have two modern banking halls in Nyayo House; in the Southern wing that is the collection wing; We have increased the number of service points from initially 14 to more than 40 because we want to make the service more efficient, and we are thinking we need to transform the immigration into a service,” Bitok revealed.

 Bitok says, that just like the National Police and the National Intelligence Services, Immigration will also seek to be rebranded as one of the services.

“We are consulting with the government to ensure that we get a new Immigration Service to ensure that is very professional and can be able to serve Kenyans and foreigners,” Bitok added.

This comes just hours after Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki said that operations at the Department of Immigration and Citizen Services had greatly improved in the last two years.

Kindiki said that reforms had ensured a historical backlog of unprocessed passports was surmounted and that more than 95,000 passports are currently due for collection.

He added that the acquisition of two new printers to the department would eliminate the formerly frequent stoppages to workflow which resulted in major delays in the processing of passports.

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.