The following is the process for applying for the new e-Passports for Tanzanians living in Canada.
(Please note that Immigration Tanzania has already declared that the “old,” green passports will no longer be valid beyond January 31st, 2020. Furthermore, due to the deadline, there will be less than six months validity on those green passports, as of August 1st, 2019. While entering Tanzania up until the January deadline will not pose a problem, please be aware of a six months passport validity requirement that some
countries do have. This is just in case you are intending to travel with the green passports between now and January.)
The first thing to do to apply for the new e-passport, is to go to the Tanzania Immigration website, to fill out the application form online (www.immigration.go.tz → e-Services → Passport Application Form →
Ombi Jipya).
Please make sure to take note of the Application ID number, the moment it is provided. Do not wait until the end to do this. If you were to get out of the system for whatever reason, including in any possible error, you will not be able to continue without this ID number.
Regarding the photo, while a digital photo will be taken at the time of your biometric appointment in Ottawa, the form online still requires a passport photo to be uploaded. This time, the background colour does not have to be blue. We suggest that the colour be light nonetheless.
As for the specifications, you can use a passport photograph that one would obtain for a Canadian passport. Do make sure that it is a FORMAL PASSPORT photo. We ask that you do not use other substitutes, such as using your phone camera, or selecting from a photo album.
Regarding the area of uploading the documents (Viambatanisho), this will be presented in three sections. Do make sure that all images to be uploaded are well-scanned, and well-taken. It is very important that each image be clear and legible. Also, make sure that no section of the document has been cut off (for example, no section of the long,
legal-size birth certificates should be missing):
One section asks for your birth certificate to be uploaded.
Another section asks for your parents' birth certificates to be uploaded.
If you are not able to upload both certificates, the father's birth certificate is the more preferred, although the mother’s birth certificate is still acceptable. If a birth certificate is not possible, then in its place, we ask for an affidavit, confirming the place and date of birth, of the parent, and confirming the relationship to the applicant. The affidavit must originate from the country of the person’s birth.
The third section, which poses the question as "Kitambulisho cha kazi na barua ya ombi la pasipoti toka kwa mwajiri (kwa walioajiriwa) au barua ya utambulisho toka serikali ya mtaa/afisa mtendaji wa kata." What they
are requesting here is your Canadian status document, such as a PR card, student visa, work permit, visitor's visa, etc. Do make sure that whatever Canadian status document you have that confirms your permission to be in the country, that it is valid and not yet expired. If your Canadian status has already expired, and you are not able to obtain another one without a valid passport, then in its place, you will have to obtain a
"No-Record" letter from Canada Immigration, and this will have to be uploaded in the place of your status document.
Once you have completed the whole application on line, you will make an online payment of $15 US, for the application fee. At this point (and not prior) you will be able to print out the form. It will be a total of five pages, with the last page being a receipt of your $15 payment. You will find that there are sections of the form that were not able to be filled online, that you will now be able to fill, manually, at this stage.
Do make sure that ALL questions on the form are indeed filled (DO NOT fill out, of course, any section that is to be filled only by the office, including Number 9 – “Shuhuda kwa Mwombaji.” An officer at the High Commission will fill in that question). The main areas to fill in at this stage are: Number 4, which asks for your name, date and signature. Another area is Number. 7, which asks for "Wadhamini wa
mwombaji.” Do make sure that this section is filled, preferably with a Tanzanian reference, and make sure that they are names that differ from the previous section (No. 6), which asked for "majina wakati wa dharura." If there is any other area that was either skipped, or possibly was not filled in properly online, we ask you to fill it in at this stage. Similarly, regarding place of birth for either you the applicant or the parent, if it was not possible to put the details of a
non-Tanzanian place of birth, we ask for it to be filled in at this time.
The next stage is that we ask you to send the five-page, application form printout (including areas filled in manually) to the following email address: visa@tanzaniaottawa.ca, along with the following items:
• A signed letter from you, the applicant, that asks for a new passport to be issued to you.
• A copy of the info page of your current passport. If you do not have a Tanzanian passport (if it has been lost or stolen, for example), in its place, you will have to obtain a hard copy of a police report, and provide this to us. Please inform us ahead of time if your Tanzanian passport has been expired beyond eight years, as this could affect the type of service provided.
• The other parent's birth certificate, if you were not able to upload (if you have access to it) in the previous stage.
• An oath of allegiance (denouncing the place of birth), or a
certificate of naturalization, or a certificate of citizenship
registration, IF there was anyone born outside of Tanzania, whether you the applicant, and/or your parents, and/or your grandparents. This also applies to anyone (more likely a grandparent) who was a non-Tanzanian citizen at the time of their birth, such as a British Subject.
• Documentation that confirms a name change, IF there is anyone, whether you the applicant, and/or parent, and/or grandparent, who has ended up with a name, different than the one on the birth certificate. If you have had a name change due to marriage, then we ask for a marriage certificate. If, however, it is obvious on the form that the your mother, for example, has a surname that is that of her husband’s, than
no further document is required in this situation, as both parents’ information is provided on the form.
• Your full Canadian address (complete with postal code) for our office records, since during the online application, the address that was asked for is for Tanzania.
• Regarding the National Identity Card, please note that Tanzania Immigration has waived this for Tanzanians living outside of Tanzania.
If by any chance you already do possess it, then we ask for a copy to be emailed to us.
Just as stated earlier, do make sure that ALL print matter is
well-copied, well cropped, clear, legible, and preferably scanned. If having to use a phone camera for the documents, the image should still be up-close, NOT ANGLED, and appear as though scanned. In order to make the task of identifying each document easier, we ask that you PLEASE clarify what each provided document is, who the document belongs to, and how it is connected to you (for example → “My paternal grandfather’s birth certificate”). This should be reflected in the body of the email, AS WELL AS within the file name assigned to each attachment. The next stage is that our office will check to see that all important items have been provided, and that the form and uploads were completed and done
correctly. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours between the $15 US payment being made, and our office having access to see what was uploaded online.
Next, you will then be provided an invoice of $75 US from our office, which is the administration fee for the manufacturing of the new passport. You will have an option of paying either at a bank (with information provided on the invoice), or you will be able to pay online, with a provided link (which is the preferred option of our office). Once you have done the payment, we will wait to receive a notification that the payment has been received and processed in Tanzania. You, the applicant, will receive a notification by email. Our office will also have access to receive the notification. Please note that just as with the earlier payment, this payment can also take 24 hours between the payment being made, and the notification being received.
Once there has been notification that the payment has been received and processed, the next stage will be to schedule an appointment for you to come to Ottawa for the digital taking of the biometrics (fingerprints, photo, and signature). On the day of your appointment, we ask that you come with ALL the documents that you had uploaded and emailed to us,
including the application form printout. Wherever possible, make sureto provide original documents for your appointment, particularly your passport and Canadian status document (these original documents will be returned to you on the day of your appointment). Other than the application printout, we ask for DOUBLE-photocopies of each item to be
brought to our office as well. If there are any original documents that have yellowed and deteriorated due to aging, we would suggest taking colour photocopies of those items, rather than black and white, as black and white can result in a dark and illegible copy. The biometrics appointment is going to involve a digital photo being taken, therefore, unlike the previous process, unless you were unsuccessful with uploading a photo online, you will not have to come to your appointment with any photographs. We do however suggest that you NOT wear a while-coloured top for the digital photo taking, as this can affect the image.
Later on (weeks later), once our office has received your new
e-passport, you will be contacted about its arrival. You will then courier to us your current/old passport, as well as a return courier envelope, whereby we will cancel the old passport and return it to you, along with providing you the new e-passport. Please note that if there were any documents in your old passport, such as visas and permits from other countries, please note that you will be able to travel with both
passports if need be. At the same time, we strongly suggest that you contact the representatives of those who provided those documents (Canada Immigration, the embassy who provided the visa, etc..), to inform them of your new passport, and to ask them how to proceed with their document.
So that is the whole process. If by any chance there are any concerns within the process, please feel free to contact our office for assistance.
CONSULAR SECTION
TANZANIA HIGH COMMISSION
OTTAWA
1 613 232 1500 X 0
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