President William Ruto shakes hand with one of the Garissa residents when as he opens the passports office in the county/PCSPresident William Ruto has brought relief to the residents of Garissa and the surrounding counties by reopening the passports office in the county.
The office located in Garissa town is set to offer all immigration services, saving applicants expenses in transport and time currently spent accessing services in Nairobi and other regional offices.
Ruto, who presided over the opening of the station, noted that this was in line with the policy of ensuring all citizens have equal access to government services.
This, he said, was also a fulfillment of his administration's electoral pledge to restore passport printing services after they were stopped in 2014.
“The people from this area will no longer have to travel to Nairobi to get these services. We want to ensure this region enjoys such services at close proximity,” he said.
Garissa and other regional offices ceased issuing passports to comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation's (ICAO) recommendations for centralized printing of passports and other travel documents to reinforce their security from forgery and other manipulations.
However, investments in a modern and integrated e-Passport Management System have enabled the Directorate of Immigration to decentralise the passport application process while adhering to ICAO and other global passport security guidelines.
Besides Garissa county, the new Immigration office will offer convenience to Mandera, Wajir and parts of Tana River, Lamu, Kitui, and Isiolo counties, saving applicants expenses in transport and time currently spent accessing services in Nairobi and other regional offices.
Garissa now becomes the 10th passport application centre in Kenya and the third to be opened by President Ruto after Kericho and Bungoma.
Others are situated in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru, Embu, Eldoret and Kisii.
Immigration and Citizen Services Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the reopening of the Garissa office and the elimination of vetting for national ID cards applicants for residents of border counties will promote fairness and equality in access to identity and registration documents.
He said with the stoppage of vetting, the Garissa Immigration office was expected to witness a high demand for passports applications.
“Yesterday (Wednesday) in Wajir, the President signed a proclamation vacating vetting for ID cards in the Northeastern region and other border counties.
With the new Immigration office in Garisa, we believe eligible applicants will flock in big numbers to apply for passports and other services,” he said.
President William Ruto meets some of Immigration officers in Garissa on February 6, 2025/PCSThe new office will have a dedicated migrant labour desk for fast-tracked passport applications for those pursuing foreign job opportunities.
It will also be central in providing passports to around 2,000 Hajj Pilgrims and travelers for medical, studies, business, social, and leisure visits.
According to SUPKEM chair Hassan Ole Naado, over 50% of Hajj pilgrims come from the Northeastern Region.
This year, Kenya has been allocated 4,500 slots for Haji that must obtain relevant visas by April in time for the religious gathering in May.
