[UAH] EAC e-passport ‘coming soon’ - News - www.theeastafrican.co.ke
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The East African Community member states may soon start issuing an EAC e-passport that will be recognised worldwide.
In their meeting in Arusha on June 21, the EAC Council of Ministers resolved that each partner state would start issuing the international EAC passport in accordance with their national and immigration laws.
The new document will have both the EAC and the specific country's names and will come in two categories: Diplomatic service and ordinary. The ministers said that each state will have to decide whether its citizens can hold two passports or acquire the upgraded EAC passport after their national passports have expired.
"The technicalities of whether the passports will be printed alongside the national passports are still being worked on," said the ministers in their report.
The new passport will be electronic as opposed to the current machine-readable ones being issued by the partner states.
"We have been given up to July 31 to come up with the computer-generated graphic design of the new passport and thereafter disseminate it to the partner states for input," said Nyamajeje Weggoro, EAC Director of Productive Sectors.
Currently, EAC member states issue an ordinary EAC passport for travel across the region, but not on international trips. The current passport gives the holder a six-month stay visa across the member states.
"This does not serve the right purpose," said the ministers. "Citizens are forced to have two passports; one from their state and the other for the EAC." The current passport is mostly used by traders and students.
The process of internationalising the EAC passport started in 2005. A team of immigration experts was tasked with designing it with each country's security features, but the process slowed down because Rwanda and Burundi had yet to include theirs.
Kenya's EAC director of economic affairs Richard Sindiga confirmed that the new document will have the security features for all the member states, which will be recognised across the globe.
Dr Weggoro said new passport will comply with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Document 9303 standard.
In the EAC, only Burundi issues an e-passport. The machine-readable passports are supposed to be phased out by 2015.
By Christabel Ligami and Adam Ihucha
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