Kenyan passport

The Kenyan passport is issued to Kenyan citizens in accordance with the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and as provided for in the Kenya Citizens and Immigration Act that commenced on 30 August 2011. In addition issuance process is regulated by Legal Notice No. 64 (the Kenya Citizenship and Immigration Regulations, 2012). If eligible, an individual can apply for a New Passport, Renewal Passport and Replacement Passport. Passports are issued by the Department of Immigration. The department is under the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government. Kenyan passports are usually used as a form of ID as well and would be rated as second to the Kenyan national ID card. Before Kenya got independence from Britain, British passports were used.
Since September 2017, Kenya issues the new East African format ePassport. Directorate of Immigration and Registration of Persons, Gordon Kihalangwa, said on a live Twitter chat that tracking individuals’ movements will become easier with the ePassport. This is inline with digitization of Kenya. The new bio-metric passport contains the holders bio-data such as finger prints, digitally stored photo and signature among others.
Features of the Kenyan Bio-metric passport
The new color adopted on the Kenyan ordinary passport, light blue, is the official color of the East African Community. The old ordinary passport was phased out by 31 August 2019 (extended to 1 March 2021) and rendered unusable and cease to being recognized as travel documents. Holders of existing old format passports were strongly advised to apply for the new ePassport before this date.
According to the department of immigration under Ministry of Interior and National Coordination, and read together with the Kenyan constitution, Kenyan passports are valid for ten years after date of issuance. Children and persons under eighteen years are required to have their own government issued passport separate from the parent. Minors application is done on the parents e-citizen account. Fees are the same as for adults and validity is also ten years.
The Kenyan passport is valid in all Commonwealth countries and all foreign nations of the world.
The passport remains the property of the government of Kenya and may be withdrawn at any time.
Kenya has two official languages, English and Swahili, and in all government and legal documents both languages are used.
In the Kenyan passport, French is also used.
There are three types of passports:
Kenyan passports have the Kenyan coat of arms emblazoned in gold in the center of the front cover. The words "EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY" are inscribed at the top followed by "REPUBLIC OF KENYA" is inscribed in gold text above the coat of arms, while "PASSPORT" is inscribed in gold text below it. The back cover is left blank.
The passport note occupies the second page of the passport, and the emergency contact information is on the last page. The identity information page is printed on the inside of the passport's second page, while the person's description are on the third page.
The pages of Kenyan passports are watermarked with the Kenyan coat of arms. The pages feature designs with the 'big five game' animals commonly found in Kenyan national parks and reserves: the lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo.
The inside front cover of the passport shows the East African logo with the word "Passport No." in English, Swahili and French; and in bold letters and numbers the passport number. The second page shows the words "East African Community" and "Republic of Kenya" in bold, uppercase letters.
Then the notes read first in English:
And in Swahili:
then in French:
The second page of the Kenyan passport has the following:
The page ends with a two line machine readable zone, according to ICAO standard 9303. Also the holder's National ID card number.
There is also a holographic 3D copy of the owners picture, holographic copy of the two machine readable lines, security features seen under special UV light, holographic micro printing and kinematic elements.
Since 1 September 2017, Kenyan passports have had a contact-less smart card (proximity card) chip and 13.56 MHz loop antenna embedded in the front cover page, in accordance with ICAO standards. The chip and antenna and are not visually recognized, but their presence is indicated by ICAO bio-metric passport symbol at the bottom. It carries all the bio-metric data printed on the passport, JPEG file photo, digitally protected by a signature. Also an alphanumeric pseudorandomly assigned high-entropy serial number which is 45 bits. This improves the crypto-graphic strength of the basic access control (BAC) mechanism of the RFID chip.
According to the Kenyan constitution, a person can be a Kenyan citizen by birth or by registration. The new constitution of 2010, unlike the previous one, allows a Kenyan citizen who acquires another country's citizenship after 27 August 2010, to have dual citizenship. He/she is required by law to immediately declare his status by completing:
Persons who lost their Kenyan citizenship before 27 August 2010 are entitled to regain after filling:
As of 9 October 2023, Kenyan citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 73 countries and territories, ranking the Kenyan passport 74th in terms of travel freedom according to the Henley Passport Index.