In a statement released on Twitter, the department added that, during the said period, the system will undergo maintenance.
Normal services are expected to resume on Friday, December 27, 2019.
The move was criticised by a section of Kenyans who wanted to take time during the holiday season to renew their passports.
“Imagine thinking it’s a good idea to down your tools when there is a deadline approaching. This is why Africa will never progress.
“So this is the time people in the diaspora are coming home to sort out this passport issues (because getting the e-passport in the diaspora is a nightmare,” one Twitter user faulted.
Chrispin Ogolla held the opinion that officials from the Department of Immigration were breaking for the festivities.
“There’s nothing like unscheduled maintenance, just be honest with us patriots that you and your staff will be taking unplanned off days to celebrate this Christmas with their families. It’s okay,’ he alleged.
Thousands of Kenyans have been lining up at the immigration offices countrywide to acquire the new e-passports ahead of the phasing out of the current non-electronic passports.
At least a million Kenyans have applied for the new passports with an estimated 1.5 million still using the old machine-readable passports, according to figures released by the Immigration Department.