The government has announced that the Immigration Department is set to Commission two new passport printers to increase output following a spike in demand.
On Thursday, when he received an additional 112,700 passport booklets, including 92,500 50-pager series, Immigration Principal Secretary Bitok said the department procured the new passport printers under a comprehensive infrastructural upgrade initiative.
Further, he announced the installation of additional servers as part of an infrastructure modernization plan to support passport operations and ensure a seamless user experience.
Bitok promised sustained efforts to enhance efficiency at passport centers.
In addition, he urged passport applicants seeking to upgrade their passport applications to a 50-page series to do so on the eCitizen portal and monitor the status of the travel documents through an SMS code.
Did you read this?
Bitok said all inquiries on the status of applications will channeled to the SMS code 22222 to decongest passport centres.
“Applicants with pending applications and those who are yet to collect their passports can track the status of their applications by sending an SMS with their eCitizen application reference code to 22222.”
Bitok urged applicants with priority cases to consider upgrading their applications to a 50-page passport series and capitalize on available booklets.
“Applicants with pending 34-page passports who have an urgent need to travel are advised to upgrade their applications to the 50-page booklet through the eCitizen portal. No physical visit to Immigration offices is necessary to apply for the upgrade,” he added.
The PS said additional booklets, including the 34-page (A-series), will arrive in the country in April.
