The Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson Jacob Siminyu has issued a notice that whoever wishes to renew their old passports should quickly apply for the East African Community ones as the former are phasing out soon.
“We have received a lot of inquiries on the deadline of using old passports which still stands at January 31, 2021. So if you have an old passport and you plan to travel next year, you can apply online so that you can get it soon enough,” he said.
While addressing the media at the Media Center on Wednesday, Siminyu said, “There are people who have asked if there will be an extension on the deadline, if there is a required regional agreement then Uganda will not be an exemption.”
He advised those who applied for passports before the lockdown to re-apply and get new appointments.
“We have a number of people who applied for passports and their appointments were not fulfilled due to COVID-19. We are now open to about 30% instead of 100%, so apply and schedule an appointment,” Siminyu said.
He, however, noted that those who need the passports urgently should apply for express to avoid the long process.
“If you know that you are going to apply for a service and you are in a hurry, please apply for express. When you apply for express, you are not required to make an appointment,” he added.
Siminyu noted that some people applied before the online application system but haven’t been served yet. He assured them that Uganda Revenue Authority will refund their expenses.
“URA promised us and has been refunding money for applicants. Please make another payment using the new system, write to URA, ask for a refund, and attach the old and new receipt plus the passport,” he noted.
Siminyu added that anyone approaching the Ministry must be ready to follow the standard operating procedures.
“We had an incident where one of the leaders refused to wash his hands insisting that he has his own sanitizer in his car. I would like to urge all the people coming to Internal affairs to follow the SOPs, those who don’t want please don’t approach us,” he warned.
