Government Extends Use Of Old Passports To March 2021

The Kenyan government has extended the deadline for replacement of old passports to March next year, Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi, revealed Monday morning.

The CS says that about 1.8 million Kenyans are yet to apply for the second generation e-passport. “Due to this, the government extends the deadline for voiding the current dark blue machine-readable passport by 12 months,” Matiangi said in a statement.

In order to ease passport replacement, the Government says it has set up four passport control centers in Nakuru, Kisii, Eldoret and Embu, and six others in the diaspora.

“Considering this is the second extension, the 1.8 million Kenyans still holding the dark blue passport are urged to take full advantage of this period to acquire the EAC-format electronic passports at the earliest opportunity possible,” the statement reads.

Launched on August 31, 2018, the new generation passport replaces the readable East African and ordinary passport in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) specifications.