Labour workers seeking to go out of the country in search of employment opportunities are set to get their passports in a record time of three days, according to the latest directive by the government.
In what is set to be a welcome reprieve, the State Department of Immigration Services announced that in line with the State’s labour migration initiative, Kenyans will now be able to get their passports in three days.
The move to expedite the process of issuance of passports comes at a time when the government recently sent its first batch of export workers to Qatar after Kenya and Qatar struck an agreement to provide employment opportunities to Kenyans in the Gulf nation.
While launching the new development, Immigration Principal Secretary Julius Bitok expressed his satisfaction with the move and reiterated the government’s commitment to ensure the process is smooth and streamlined.
Immigration PS Julius Bitok at a press conference on May 31, 2023 (left) as a sample of a Kenyan passport.
Photo
Kithure Kindiki
“We are happy to expedite the process of labour migration passports. There is a multitude of Kenyans who want to go out there (abroad) for different jobs. Whether it is plumbing, carpentry, security, or masonry,” PS Bitok stated.
“The government of Kenya is really committed to ensuring that everybody who wants to travel out there receives their passport on time. We have created a green channel here, an expedited process for passports in labour migration,” he added.
President William Ruto has been a staunch defender of the labour export programme urging Kenyans to see the importance of the initiative which many claim is not beneficial to Kenyans.
Ruto’s labour export plan targets to export one million skilled and semi-skilled Kenyans to various countries abroad in a bid to diversify employment opportunities and increase diaspora remittances. However, critics of this programme have claimed that it exposes Kenyans to exploitation, harassment and poor working conditions in foreign countries.
In previous engagements with the press, Ruto claimed that since July 2023, the government has facilitated employment for 105,367 Kenyans in various countries, including roles for nurses, teachers and chefs.
Ruto added that the National Employment Authority (NEA), has identified over 560,000 job openings in various countries across the world. In September 2024, Kenya and Germany entered into an agreement that would facilitate the entry of skilled workers to live and work in the European Union’s biggest economy.
On December 11, 2024, Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua flagged off the first batch of 290 workers in the Qatar-Kenya job export programme. The programme, which seeks to provide employment opportunities to close to 8,000 Kenyans, experienced its first major breakthrough in the new development.
CS Mutua announced that selected individuals would leave for Qatar on a rolling basis with new groups set to leave each day after the initial send-off on December 11.
A photo collage of Labour Cabinet Secretary Alfred Mutua and his Qatar counterpart Saeed Samikh Al-Marri at Kenyatta International Conference Centre in Nairobi on October 6, 2024.
ALFRED MUTUA
Kenyans.co.ke
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