Immigration receives 112,700 passport booklets to ease backlog

"Additional booklets, including the 34-page (A-series), have already been procured and are expected in the country from next month," Bitok said.

He said that the issuance of passports will be prioritised on a first-in first-out basis.

Bitok advised Kenyans with pending 34- page passports who have an urgent need to travel to upgrade their applications to the 50-page booklet through the e-citizen portal.

"Applicants with pending applications and those who are yet to collect their passports can track the status of their applications by sending an SMS with their eCitizen application reference code to 22222," he said.

Bitok announced that the government has procured two modern passport printing machines that will be ready for commissioning by April 2024.

"Additional servers have also been installed to stabilise the system and secure relevant data," Bitok said.

This, he said is to enhance the passport issuance capacity and reduce the waiting time.

"The Directorate is currently undertaking a comprehensive infrastructural upgrade of its facilities to provide a user friendly environment and to accommodate the high rise in the number of clients," he said.