The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has rolled out its Multi-Biometric Identification System (MBIS) at the Diplomatic Police Unit (DPU) headquarters in Nairobi. With this, the Police Clearance Certificates (PCC) facility will be available to the diplomatic community and foreign residents and workers.
Applicants will also be able to access the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) service from this facility instead of going to DCI offices or Huduma Centres as the agency rolls out the digital police-clearance service in more places across the country.
In a press statement released on Wednesday, October 14, 2026, DCI announced that this development would further boost access to the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) and increase efficiency in processing.
“The launch will further increase access to the digital service by members of the diplomatic community and is part of the nationwide rollout of the system which will see more Police Clearance Certificate application centres linked to the DCI,” the agency stated.
The new facility adds to the initial release of the system at DCI headquarters on July 23, 2026, by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen.
The DCI indicated that the new system has helped cut Police Clearance Certificate processing time from 14 days on average to same-day production under the reported operating conditions. It also added that with the system, the capacity to handle records had increased tenfold, from 2 to 10 million records, with daily searches rising from 4,500 to 20,000.
Besides the use of fingerprint, palm-print, and facial-recognition technologies to track down criminal records, the MBIS also digitizes the old ink-based processes of collecting prints and documents.
With the improvements made possible by the new system, criminal-record searches and general investigations are expected to be more efficient in the wake of digitized and automated data analysis.
The current rollout of the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) application centres comes after the second phase of connecting 20 more application centres to the system in September 2026. These centres mostly cater to the Central Region and its neighboring areas.
As per the agency, the 26 centres connected to the system, out of the 63 target centres nationwide, include six centres connected in Nairobi. The DCI announced that more centres would be connected as the digitization drive continues to fully digitize police clearance certificate processing and make it available in more localities.
Foreigners residing in Kenya can apply for Police Clearance Certificates (PCC) through the eCitizen portal managed by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
In their applications, immigrants must choose the relevant immigrant category, fill in the necessary information, and attach scanned copies of the required documents to their applications, including proof of residency in Kenya for at least six months before submitting them.
After verification and approval, the applicants will be notified to come to the centres selected during application to capture biometrics by fingerprints. DCI will notify approved applicants to download their certificates from their eCitizen portals.
With this new addition, Diplomatic Police Unit (DPU) will provide local access to Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) as the agency ramps up efforts to digitize the issuing of Police Clearance Certificates (PCC).