The US has reversed a decision it had made yesterday in relation to old Kenyan passports. The US, through its embassy in nairobi had stated that it would no longer give visas to Kenyans without the new e-passports.
But on Wednesday, the embassy made a turnaround. “Visa applicants may apply for a US visa with a non-digital Kenyan passport. We will place a US visa in a non-digital passport until further notice. Holders of current US visas do not need to take any action,” the Embassy said on Twitter.
On Tuesday, the US had made an announcement that had rendered all old Kenyan passports irrelevant for Kenyans looking to travel to the US. “We can only place a US visa in a new passport. You may make an appointment with your current passport but you will need to obtain an e-passport before we can issue a visa,” a spokesperson at the Embassy said on Tuesday.
Currently, over 400,000 Kenyans have obtained e-passports.
The government has been struggling to meet the high demand for the e-passports. It has already announced that there might be passport application centres in London in the UK, Paris in France, Washington, DC in US, Pretoria in South Africa, Dubai and Berlin. However, these centres are yet to be established.
The e-passports come with an electronic chip are part of a global effort aimed at curbing forgery of passports.