Govt Issues 3 Sure Ways To Know If Your Kenyan Passport Is Ready For Collection

Applying for a passport in Kenya and actually receiving it requires a bit of patience since it can take between 3-6 months for the whole stages of passport processing to complete.

Similarly, due to the phasing out of the old Kenyan passports by the deadline 30th November 2022, holders of the old passports will not be allowed to travel anywhere unless they change from the old Kenyan passport to new e-passport

In general, the process of applying/renewing a passport includes;

i) Application via the E-Citizen portal

ii) Making payment for the various passport charges

iii) Booking/Reschedule for passport appointment for biometrics capture

iv) Obtaining passport tracking number

v) Tracking passport status using the tracking number

vi) Booking for passport collection

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How To Apply For Passport In Kenya

Login to your e-citizen account dashboard.
Select ‘Directorate of immigration services (new applicants)’ menu
Click on ‘Passport application’ located under the services category.

Begin the process on how to apply for Kenyan passport by completing the 3 major steps which include;
Step 1: Basic info
Step 2: Payment
Step 3: Book appointment

BASIC INFO

Under this step, you are required to fill in all the 8 sections fully and accurately. These sections are;

Section 1: Category

This section requires you to choose whether you are making a personal passport application by selecting ‘Your application’ or on behalf of someone else.

Section 2: Dual nationality

This section requires you to state whether you are a holder of dual citizenship by choosing either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Section 3: Passport type

This section requires you to choose the specifics of your passport i.e

  • Passport type (ordinary/diplomatic)
  • Application type (first time/replacement/change of passport particulars/mutilated passport/lost passport)
  • Passport page count (B/C series)

Section 4: Applicant details

This section requires you to choose the location to submit the application in addition to personal particulars such as full names, date of birth, gender, special peculiarities, eye color and height
Other items to be filled include birth location country, home county, place of birth, citizenship, KRA pin, birth entry number, profession/occupation, marital status and reason for travel.
In addition, enter your residential details such as country of residence, postal address & code, phone number, email address, estate/sub-location and house number/village.

Section 5: Parents’ details

In this section, provide the details of both parents or either. If one is available, provide the full names, ID card number, passport number (optional), place of birth, postal address & code and phone number beginning with the prefix (+254)
For the other if unavailable, provide only the full names of the affected parent.

Section 6: Next of kin

This section requires you to provide the details for at least (2) next of kin members detailing their full names, national ID card number, division, location, relationship with kin, postal address & code, phone number and email address (optional)
You are also required to state whether you have children or not by choosing either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’

Section 7: Recommendation of application

This section requires the details of a colleague or friend to endorse your application.
Such details include full names, ID card number, profession/occupation, email address, phone number and postal address & code

Section 8: Uploads

This section entails the attachment of official documents such as recent passport size photo with white background, signature on white background, copy of both front & back of national ID, copy of birth certificate, copy of parents’ ID as well as copy of recommendor’s ID.

See also  Stages Of Passport Processing In Kenya

PAYMENT

Once all the info is provided for the above, proceed and make payment depending on the charges relevant to the passport type chosen.
Payment can be made via different channels such as;

BOOK APPOINTMENT

Upon payment, you are required to book a passport appointment whereby your bio-metrics will be taken such as photo and fingerprints.
To do so will require a location,date and time that is convenient for you.

A.BOOKING BIOMETRICS

This action will signify the completion of the application process.
Note: If at the point of booking there are limited slots, it is advisable to keep on checking your E-Citizen account for future openings that may be closer and reschedule to that.
On the appointment due date, you are required to carry along additional documents to facilitate the passport application verification process.

Note: You are required to avail ALL the relevant documents while at the venue to avoid inconvenience of being denied service.
These documents include;
1) E-Citizen fully filled application form and (3) invoices. These can be obtained via your E-Citizen account by;

Clicking on ‘Downloads’ to download and print the application form.
Clicking on ‘Payments’ to download and print the (2) government invoice copies and (1) customer copy invoice.

2) An original birth certificate alongside (1) photocopy.
3) An original national ID card alongside (1) photocopy.
4) Full color (3) current passport size photos
5) A copy of recommenders ID card (1)
6) Photocopies of Parents’ ID card/ death certificate (where applicable)
7) Affidavit, police abstract and explanation letter (lost passport)
8) Explanation letter (mutilated passport)
9) Old passport plus copies of last (3) pages (replacement passport)
While at the venue, there will be verification of the above stated documents, passport photo and fingerprint taking.

Note: No facial foreign objects ( earnings or nose rings ) are allowed during the photo session.
After completion of the photo session, you will be issued with a photograph token receipt containing various details such as tracking number, passport application type and number of passport pages, name, date of issuance etc as shown below.

photoreceipttoken281299060852408414828566.

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How To Track Passport In Kenya

There currently exists (2) methods with which can be used to track the status of a passport. These include;

a) How to track Kenyan Passport Via e-citizen portal

After completion of the bio-metric tests, the passport generation process will begin.
During this period, the stages in your e-citizen portal will begin transitioning from one stage to another depicting the progress of your passport.
The initial stage being LOADING followed by PRODUCTION then lastly RECEIVING denoting that the passport is ready for collection.

PASSPORT APPLICATION STAGES

It is at this point that you may receive an SMS from immigration notifying you of the same.

Note: This method is not entirely accurate since most applicants either experience stagnation at one stage for an extended duration or do not receive notification SMS of collection but still end up receiving their passports.

b) How to track Kenyan Passport Via tracking number

Using the tracking number availed on the photo token receipt, you can now proceed to track the status of your passport. To do this;

  • Navigate to the passport booking and collection portal.
  • Enter your 10-digit tracking number
  • Click on ‘track my passport’

The above action may result in either of (2) scenarios below.
Scenario 1: Tracking number not found
This message implies that your passport is not yet ready and may need to wait longer.

Scenario 2
If the search option opens up, this means that your passport is ready and you should proceed to book for delivery by providing your full names, ID number, email address, phone number and preferred post office then proceed to make payment for the same.

TRACKING STATUS

[UPDATE] 3 Effective Ways To Track And Know If Your Passport Is Ready For Collection In Kenya

Following the rampant issue of passport delays, the Kenyan government has provided 3 effective avenues to know whether your passport is ready for collection.

  1. Passport tracking via the ecitizen portal: Passport tracking and collection bookings via the Posta Kenya service has been temporarily suspended. Therefore, all passport tracking will be done via the ecitizen platform through following the passport processing stages.

  2. SMS notification by Immigration service for all passports that are ready for collection.

  3. Publishing of names of applicants whose passports will be ready for collection on Wednesday of every week.

Lylyane Kim

Lylyane Kim holds a diploma in travel & tourism management with over 10+ years experience in the field and has worked with both local and international travel agencies. She is always ready to assist on matters related to passport/visa, bookings, travel documents, itineraries etc so feel free to reach out to her on any of her social channels for assistance.

7 Responses

  1. May 18, 2023

    […] See Also: How To Know If Your Passport Is Ready For Collection In Kenya […]

  2. May 18, 2023

    […] See Also: How To Know If Your Passport Is Ready For Collection In Kenya […]

  3. June 25, 2023

    […] the passport application process being digitized via the e-citizen platform, generation of the physical passports may take months or […]

  4. July 20, 2023

    […] a series of processes that need to be undertaken before a passport can be considered complete and ready for collection by […]

  5. August 12, 2023

    […] Below are some of the stages of passport processing in Kenya so that you may know when your passport is ready for collection. […]

  6. September 20, 2023

    […] Govt Provides 3 Sure Ways To Know If Your Kenyan Passport Is Ready For Collection [2023] – September 13, 2023 […]

  7. September 20, 2023

    […] Govt Provides 3 Sure Ways To Know If Your Kenyan Passport Is Ready For Collection [2023] – September 13, 2023 […]

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