INFORMATION ON THE NEW RWANDA ELECTRONIC PASSPORTS

Rwandan High Commission in London informs the public that the old machine-readable Rwandan passports are being replaced by new Rwanda Electronic Passports. For more information, please read carefully the requirements below.
 
Rwanda Electronic Passport

The Rwanda High Commission informs the public that the issuance of the new Rwanda e-Passport based on an entirely new design will commence on the 18th of November 2019. The new passports fully complies with the technical specifications for travel documents contained in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Document 9303, and with the passport specifications of the East African Community

A. The Rwanda e-Passport has a modernized design that reflects Rwanda’s rich culture and enhanced security features that will make it much harder to forge.

B. The Rwanda e-Passport booklet variants will be categorised depending on the number of pages, validity and fee structure:
•    Ordinary Passport with 50 pages and 5 years validity at 75,000 Frw;
•    Ordinary Passport with 66 pages and 10 years validity at 100,000 Frw;
•    Ordinary Passport for minors with 34 pages and 2 years validity at 25,000 Frw;
•    Service Passport with 50 pages and 5 years validity at 15,000 Frw;
•    Diplomatic Passport with 50 pages and 5 years validity at 50,000 Frw; 

C. Consistent with the EAC Heads of States directives, passports of the previous design already issued to Rwandan citizens will remain valid for up to two (2) years from the date of issuance of the electronic passport up to June 27th, 2021*. Now updated to 27th June 2022

*The Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration (DGIE) would like to inform the public that due to travel restrictions arising from the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic whereby Rwandan community abroad are not able to travel to Rwandan Diplomatic Mission to acquire e-Passports, the phase out of the old passports has been extended to one (1) year. Therefore, old passports will remain valid until 27th June 2022.

All passport applications and payment will be made ONLY through IREMBO with bank cards on the below link:
Please click here for Irembo portal.

D. The Rwanda e-Passport requires capturing of the biometric data to ensure successful identification of applicants. Therefore, every Rwandan citizen applying for e-Passport will be required to physically provide biometric data (10 fingerprints and a photo), except for children of age below sixteen (16) years;

E. The process will be in the following steps:
•    Rwandans in the UK and Ireland will APPLY and PAY by themselves through IREMBO. The main requirements in the application is an Identity Card (Indangamuntu) and payment of a fee corresponding to the passport applied for;

•    An applicant will receive an email from immigration with a unique reference number which you will need to bring with you to the Rwanda High Commission to capture the biometric by appointment. Please ensure you have received this email from immigration advising you to come to the High Commission for a biometric appointment before you book an appointment. Please check your spam or junk inbox for this email.
•    If you haven’t received this email within one week of submitting your passport application, please contact the consular department by email at uk@rwandahc.org or by telephone +44 (0)2072 249832.
•    The passport will be processed in Rwanda, but collection as always will be at the Rwanda High Commission.

To book an appointment for the capture of the biometric, please visit the Book Biometric Appointment page HERE, or contact the consular department by email at uk@rwandahc.org or by telephone +44 (0)2072 249832.

For more information, visit the website of the Directorate General of Immigration and Emigration www.migration.gov.rw