In April 2015, the government issued a directive through the Department of Immigration that all passport application be made online through the Ecitizen Portal. The directive also targeted citizens seeking to renew and replace their passports and greatly saved individuals time besides streamlining operations at Nyayo House.
The government has been keen to add more services to the eCitizen portal as was highlighted during the budget. The Cabinet Secretary for Finance announced plans to include new processes such as assessment and payment of stamp duty, application for Identity Cards, and inspection of Company files. It has now been announced today that Kenyans will now apply for temporary permits through the portal following the addition of the service to the platform. The system was set to go live on 1st July but delayed to today.
The service will cost individuals Kshs. 30 which individuals will pay for via M-Pesa, Airtel money, Visa, Mastercard or MobiKash. Temporary permits are used primarily by individuals traveling across the East African region.
To apply for the temporary permit, individuals will go to the eCitizen platform and either sign up for those without accounts or sign-in for those with the existing ones.
They will then select Department of Immigration Services from the options presented. Upon selecting the Passports and Temporary permits option, they will choose the Temporary permit application and fill the application forms.
On making payments through their preferred payment option, the applicant will download and print the temporary permit from their account and stick their passport photo on the permit. On the day of travel, they will then present the printed temporary permit plus original ID to the immigration officer at the port of exit or a birth certificate for minors.
img credit: eCitizen
