The Immigration Department has announced that they have resumed normal operations in the issuance of passports.
The department had on Tuesday explained that it was experiencing downtime in its passport application receiving system, as well as the collection service.
In a statement on X on Thursday, it however stated that the process was now doable.
"We are pleased to inform all our clients that we have resumed normal operations in the issuance of passports. We thank you for your patience and understanding during the period that we experienced a downtime," it said.
On April 22, the government said the department had acquired new printers that would help in clearing the passport backlog, as well as make the processing of travel documents faster.
Interior CS Kithure Kindiki said the government had also facilitated the acquisition of adequate passport printing equipment, paid all the pending supplier bills, and addressed the supply chain constraints.
These, he said, had impeded faster processing of passports.
He noted that the backlog of pending passports which stood at 724,000 by March 11, had been resolved, and the 50,000 applications that were pending by April 18 were ready for delivery.
Kindiki added that effective May 1, all passport applications will be processed within 21 days from the date of application.
He added that the period will reduce gradually to seven days from August 1, and then to 3 days from September 1.
On Tuesday, Kindiki directed the department to ensure that the 49,500 uncollected passports are delivered and collected within 14 days effective May 10.
He also directed it to roll out a Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) to ensure the documents are cleared within the timeline.
Kindiki said there are 27,000 uncollected passports in Nairobi, Mombasa (3,000), Nakuru (4,200), Embu (4,500), Eldoret (3,900), Kisumu (3,900), Kisii (3,000) and Kericho (400).
