Refugees and Asylum seekers have until October 31 to surrender their passports as had been directed earlier by the Department of Refugee Services.
The Department of Refugee Services had on September 30 directed refugees and asylum seekers to surrender their passports within 30 days.
The department in a post on X made a reminder that only six days are left to the lapse of the given deadline.
"Reminder: Only six days left to surrender passports from the country of origin, as per the DRS Kenya directive. Kindly comply," it said in a tweet.
According to the Commissioner of Refugees John Burugu, failure to do this will lead to legal consequences, including losing their refugee status and expulsion from the country.
In the directive, Burugu explained that the Department noted that some refugees, despite having Conventional Travel Documents (CTDs), which they can use to travel to any country outside Kenya, some have been using passports from their country of origin.
The CTDs are machine-readable and issued by Department of Refugee Services.
“It has come to the attention of the Department of Refugee Services that some Refugees and asylum seekers are using passports from their country of origin for travelling outside the country,” Burugu said in a notice dated September 30.
“Accordingly, pursuant to the United Nations 1951 Convention and the Refugees Act No. 10 of 2021, all refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya are hereby required to surrender the passports from their country of origin to the Department of Refugee Services within 30 days from the date of this notice.”
The Commissioner urged refugees to comply with this directive to have their status and rights protected and avoid any legal consequences that may follow.
Burugu insisted that the safety and well-being of the refugees and asylum seekers is the commission’s top priority.
The directive comes just two months after President William Ruto's administration initiated the integration of over 700,000 refugees from the Dadaab and Kakuma camps.