The government has indicated that the deadline for phasing out of the old generation passport will be November 30, 2022. At the same time, Kenyan passport holders were advised to acquire the new East African Community (EAC) biometric e-passport so as to avoid being inconvenienced.
Immigration Director General Alexander Muteshi indicated that the phasing out of the old passport is part of Kenya’s plan to comply with the 2021 EAC Council meeting that ratified the decision.
Kenya commenced issuing the new East African format e-Passport in September 2017 in line with the digitization of services. The new e-system is aimed at improving efficiency as well enhancing security a move that is part of Kenya’s 2030 vision.
The new biometric 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.