Kenya has extended the deadline for the phasing out of the of the old generation passports to November this year following a council meeting of the East African Community (EAC) member states.
The Government had previously set a deadline of December 31 last year for the phasing out of the old generation passport, according to the Directorate of Immigration Services.
“However, the 41st Ordinary Meeting of the EAC Council of Minister’s held in Arusha from 22nd to 29th November 2021, extended the phasing out period of all EAC member Countries passport to November 2022,” said Immigrations Director General Alexander Muteshi.
He added that since Kenya is bound by the Council’s decisions as a member state, the country will abide by the directive until further communications are made.
The expiry of the deadline had generated fears amongst Kenyans who were unable to replace their old passports with new ones before the expiry.
Kenya commenced issuing the new East African format ePassport in September 2017 in line with digitization of services.
The new E-Systems are aimed at improving efficiency and rid out loopholes and enhance security a move that is part Kenya’s 2030 vision.
The new bio-metric passport contains the holder’s biodata such as fingerprints, digitally stored photo and signature among others.
It also contains a biometric identifier.
Further, it has a digital photograph of the holder and security features to prevent unauthorized reading or “scanning” of data stored.
The new EAC travel document comes in red, green and sky blue —the colors of the EAC flag — but with text and national emblems, in gold to complete its face.
The colour of the passport depends on categories.
