More than 60,000 applicants who have been waiting for Kenyan passports will now receive them within three weeks.

Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Prof. Julius Bitok said the backlog will be cleared within 21 days.

This is after the government received over 100,000 blank passport booklets.

"It will take you 21 days to receive your passport if you apply on the e-Citizen platform," the PS said.

According to the Immigration Department's most recent records, 63,265 passport applications are still pending issuance; most which are for the well-liked 34-page A-series passports.

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The backlog has been ascribed to delays in the booklet supply and a spike in passport demand, particularly from Kenyans looking for work abroad and students enrolling in foreign universities.

PS Bitok stated that the government is in discussions with possible investors about investing in domestic passport production for more rapid and reasonably priced supplies.

"We're in talks with investors for Public-Private Partnerships (PPT) so that we can manufacture and print these documents here in Kenya," he said.

Due to a scarcity of booklets, a backlog of 15,358 A series passports, 10,045 B series passports, and 37,810 C series passports will now be cleared with delivery.

According to Bitok, the new supply will adequately cover all passport series, so applicants do not need to change their top picks.

He urged more Kenyans to use the e-Citizen online passport application system to benefit from the digitization of governmental services.