By John Odyek
As the deadline for the expiry of passports nears, the queues at the immigration department are increasing.
The staff at the immigration office are expediting the process of issuing passports to ensure that Ugandans get their passports ahead of the expiry of the set deadline to avoid inconveniences during travel abroad.
Many Ugandans have applied and completed the process, which includes paying sh250,000 for ordinary passports to get their passports renewed.
Maj. Gen Apollo Kasiita-Gowa, the director citizenship and immigration control at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said there is a fine of sh100,000 for damaging, losing or seeking a replacement of the new passport.
Those seeking diplomatic passport pay sh500,000, while those seeking service passport pay sh400,000. The directorate of citizenship and immigration control charges sh120,000 for conventional travel documents.
Kasiita-Gowa said as the country approaches the deadline to phase out of the machine readable-passports on April 4, 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has allowed Ugandans living in the diaspora to only use the old passports for flying back or travelling into the country.
“They (old passports) will not be usable to travel to other countries,” Kasiita-Gowa said.
The Government of Uganda, through the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, last year issued a statement confirming April 4,2022 as the deadline date for phasing out the old machine-readable passports.
The Government launched the Ugandan East African e-passport in 2018.
A two-year transitional period followed to allow the phasing out of East African and international machine-readable passports. The initial deadline of January 31, 2022 was extended to April 4, 2022.
