The Department of Immigration, on Friday, sent out a notice issuing a clarification on the e-passport application that had seen queues at Nyayo House as early as 3am as many try to beat the deadline.
In a statement to newsrooms, the Director General Immigration Department Alex Muteshi stated that Kenyans could continue applying for the new generation e-passports even after the end of August.
He clarified that "the long queues being witnessed is due to a misconception that people will not be allowed to apply for the e-passport after the end of August. These are the fears we as the government want to allay."
Muteshi stated that the process of e-passport issuance in Nairobi was experiencing a high number of applications because people were still travelling from areas where we have commissioned e-passport application and submission offices.
"To make it easier for those seeking the new document, we have decentralized passport issuance operations from Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, by opening other issuance centres in Eldoret, Kisii, Embu and Nakuru.
"To make it easier for those seeking the new document, we have decentralized passport issuance operations from Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu, by opening other issuance centres in Eldoret, Kisii, Embu and Nakuru,' he advised.
He noted that Department of immigration officials at all passport issuance centres report to work at 6am and leave at 7pm in order to serve applicants.
"Additionally, we can only serve a specific number of applicants; this is the reason we kindly request people to come the following day, instead of queuing for long hours," he stated.
He explained that the information regarding the breakdown of printing machines was not factual as they had taken contingency measures to secure that this did not happen through regular servicing.
"When servicing the machines, printing has to be stopped for only a short while before immediate resumption," he stated.
