Temporary Shortage of Ordinary Passports Hits Uganda

The Ministry of Internal Affairs regrets to inform the general public that the stock of Ordinary Passports is running low and this may cause some delay in getting your passport issued or renewed. This shortage has been caused by the following factors:

1. In line with the regional requirement to migrate to e-passport by 03rd April 2017, Uganda had planned to phase out the current Machine Readable Passports and replace them with the new generation of passports embedded with an electronic chip (e-passports). The process of procuring a provider for the e-passport is however still on-going.
2. Further to the above, we have experienced an unprecedented increase in demand for Ordinary Passports which has doubled in the past over one year.

The combination of the above stated factors has greatly affected our projections of demand for passports.
We wish to assure the public that the Ministry of Internal Affairs takes this matter seriously and is therefore putting in place urgent measures to replenish the stock to normal levels.

As an interim measure, priority with respect to issuance of Ordinary Passports will be given to the following categories of persons:

1. Proven medical cases;
2. Certified applicants proceeding on government business;
3. Students on scholarships;
4. Any other qualified case of emergency.

The other categories of passports such as East African passports, Official and Diplomatic passports are available in adequate quantities.

In the spirit of facilitating free movement of persons within the Northern Corridor (Kenya and Rwanda), East African Community (EAC), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the following alternative Travel documents are available to the public and we encourage travelers to use them;

1. East African Passport for those intending to travel within the EAC region.
2. National Identity cards for those intending to travel to Kenya and Rwanda.
3. Certificate of Identity for those intending to travel within COMESA member countries. This can be obtained at the regional offices or Points of Entry/Exit.
4. Temporary movement Permits.

We wish to inform the public that we shall continue to receive and process applications from the public. In the meantime, we discourage payment for Express passport processing services.
We apologize for the inconveniences caused to the public. However, we are doing everything within our means to restock and clear any accumulated backlog as a result of this shortage in the shortest possible time.

MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS – UGANDA