The authorities in Rwanda on Wednesday urged people whose passports are set to expire in June this year, to buy East African Community electronic passports.
Rwanda started to issue EAC electronic travel documents in June 2019 following a directive by regional leaders in March 2016 to adopt the new generation passports and phase out variants.
According to the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration the new passports is embedded with enhanced security features ruling out chances of forgery and identity theft.
Among the new features include a microchip, which makes it tamper-proof that will capture biometric data ensuring identification of the holder.
The new security features could, among other things, increase chances of making the Rwandan passport ‘stronger’ to grant its holders access to more countries without stringent visa requirements, it said.
Those whose passports have already expired as well as those applying for passports for the first time, also have to buy the EAC electronic passports.
The Director of Citizens Services at Immigration and Emigration Jean-Damascène Rusangangwa, told local media in Kigali that 100,000 citizens concerned with switching to East African Community electronic passports are all citizens who got passports between June 2016 and June 2019.
The fee levied upon applicants is dependent on the category.
The categories include ordinary passport for minors valid for two years (Rwf25,000), ordinary 5-year passport with 50 pages (Rwf75,000), ordinary 10-year passport with 66 pages (Rwf100,000), service passport with 5-year validity (Rwf15,000) and diplomatic passport (Rwf50,000).
CU/as/APA