At least a million Kenyans have applied for the new passports with an estimated 1.5 million still using the old machine readable passports/CFM – FILE
By Juliet Omelo: NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 26 – The government has extended the deadline for the use of the old passport to March 1, 2020.
Government Spokesperson Cyrus Oguna Thursday said President Kenyatta had ordered the extension from the initial deadline of August 31.
Thousands of Kenyans had thronged immigration offices to acquire new e-passports ahead of the phasing out of the current non-electronic passports.
“The directive has in effect, extended the deadline for travel on the new e-passport to 1st March,2020,” read the statement.
Oguna said Kenyatta instructed Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma and her Interior counterpart Fred Matiang’i to work with foreign missions across the world to facilitate the issuance of visas to Kenyans on their current passports.
The new generation passport, which was launched on August 31, 2018, has enhanced security features embedded in an electronic chip to minimize fraud, identity theft, forgery and passport skimming.
At least a million Kenyans have applied for the new passports with an estimated 1.5 million still using the old machine readable passports.
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