Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has announced that Kenyans will receive their passports within three days from the date of application, effective November 1, 2024.

In a statement on Thurday, April 18, Kindiki assures members of the public that effective measures have been adopted to streamline operations at Nyayo House. This includes the acquisition of 2 new printers and staffing.

Government officers are among 17 people arrested for frustrating operations at Nyayo House.

"Effective May 01, 2024, the entire process will be completed within 21 days from the date of application, but the period will be progressively reduced to 7 days effective August 01, 2024 and to 3 days effective November 01, 2024," the statement read in part.

CS Kindiki further revealed that the backlog of application for passports, which stood at 724,000 as of March 11, 2024, has been reduced to under 50,000, with 40,000 of them ready for collection.

"This follows the recent concerted efforts in tackling the various shortcomings in the processing of the travel documents. Among the bottlenecks that have been comprehensively addressed include corruption, dilapidation of printers at the Immigration Department, and disruptions along the global supply chain of passport raw materials," the statement reads.

New Printing Machines

On Friday, April 12, Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok announced the arrival of two new printing machines at Nyayo House. 

PS Bitok revealed that the machines are expected to print 600 passports per hour. This he says will bring the waiting time for passports to under 14 days.

“We will be commissioning the new printers next week. We are determined to render delays in the issuance of passports a thing of the past as we have secured the necessary resources to procure sufficient booklets and other recurrent expenses,” he said.

The government issued 533,000 passports in 2023, with the introduction of the new machines, the Bitok expects the number to double this year.