Somalia will introduce a new third-generation passport in October and has made the national ID card mandatory for anyone applying for one, tightening the link between the country’s biometric identity system and its travel documents.
The Immigration and Citizenship Agency said the new passport would be made of polycarbonate, a durable material used in modern travel documents, and would carry stronger security features while complying with the International Civil Aviation Organization standards for machine-readable travel documents. The agency’s director general, Hussein Qasim Yusuf, announced the plan, which follows an international tender the agency opened in October 2025 for a polycarbonate, biometric electronic passport with anti-forgery features.
The bigger change for applicants is the identity requirement. Starting July 2, anyone applying for a Somali passport must present a national ID card, according to the agency, and applicants who do not yet have one can register for the national ID at passport service centres. Authorities say the measures are intended to improve the reliability of official identity documents, strengthen border management, and reduce fraud in travel documentation.
The national ID card is issued by the National Identification and Registration Authority, which captures face and fingerprint biometrics along with a digitized signature. Somalia has steadily widened the situations in which the card is legally required, having begun enforcing a national ID requirement for domestic flights in March and earlier extended it to banking in the Benadir region.
The federal government has continued to push the card deeper into everyday transactions. Somali outlet ftlsomalia reported that authorities have directed commercial airlines to confirm that domestic passengers hold a national ID card before issuing tickets and boarding, and said registration centres had been set up at national airports so travelers can enroll before flying. That directive extends the domestic-travel requirement Somali authorities began enforcing earlier this year.
Sources: Dawan Africa, ftlsomalia
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
