Passport Printer Malfunctions Amid Soaring Backlog, Causing Delays
After one of the printers at Nyayo House in Nairobi broke down more than two months ago and the government has yet to repair it, the next month promises to be extremely difficult for Kenyans in search of passports.
According to officials at the immigration department. One of the machines that print the 34, 50, and 66-page booklets malfunctioned in March. Causing inconvenience for applicants who had requested the travel documents.
However, a small machine that prints the 34-page passport is operating at maximum capacity.
According to sources, a lack of booklets has also hampered the printing of 66-page and 50-page passports over the past several months.
Friday, however, the Immigration Department sourced the booklets.
The cost of a passport of category C with 66 pages is Sh7,550. A category A document of 34 pages costs Sh4,550, whereas a category B document of 50 pages costs Sh6,050.
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“It is true that passport issuance at Nyayo House in Nairobi is problematic. Under the condition of anonymity, a source from the Immigration Department stated, “We need to invest in modern printers to solve this issue.”
If we do not upgrade the printers, we will continue to experience a backlog in the coming days.
The immigration department did not respond to Business Daily’s questions regarding the printer’s lengthy repair.
According to a source, the Immigration Department normally prints 1,500 passports per day. Which is insufficient given that the number of travelers leaving the country at any given time has increased in recent months.
In Accordance to the source, the demand is so high because they receive daily applications.
According to him, the department has not yet printed 300,000 passports.
According to him, the government must invest in modern printers to expedite the processing of travel documents.
Despite numerous reminders. The Immigration Department had not responded officially to our inquiries by the time this article went to press.
However, according to a press release issued by the State Department of Immigration on Friday of last week. those in urgent need of passports must contact the department and provide documentary evidence of urgency.
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“Therefore, for expedited passport processing, please contact the Immigration Department and provide proof of urgency with supporting documentation.”
The breakdown occurred less than a month after Kenya received a shipment of over 100,000 passport booklets. which was expected to alleviate the delays experienced in recent months.
Principal Secretary of Immigration Julius Bitok stated that the passports were ordered from abroad at the beginning of the year.
With the new shipment, Bitok assured Kenyans last month that the issuance process will be quicker. and more efficient going forward, and he urged Kenyans to apply for the travel document.
“As you are aware, there have been delays in the issuance of passports because our stocks were very low, but I am pleased to announce that from now on, the process of issuing passports will be faster and more efficient, and I urge all Kenyans who have applied for passports to come and pick them up on time,” Mr. Bitok said at the time.
The number of processed and issued passports increased by 55.9 percent to 426,137 in 2022. as the state lifted restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, thereby encouraging international travel.
Passport Printer Malfunctions Amid Soaring Backlog, Causing Delays
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