The Ministry of Internal Affairs gives updates on its latest efforts today on 26th April 2021. The Permanent Secretary, Benon Mutambi spoke to the media about the recent interventions that the government has carried out to ensure that service delivery is provided in an effective and reliable manner. As the Ministry of Internal Affairs, it has the authority to ensure Internal security, keep law and order and ensure citizenship identification, protection and preservation.
The statement that was released focuses on the various interventions undertaken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to ensure sustained and effective service delivery of Immigration Services to the people of Uganda and those who visit and or immigrate to Uganda.
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Ministry of Internal Affairs gives updates on its latest efforts like real-time notification of expired visas
The Ministry of Internal Affairs gives updates on its latest efforts as it shared with the media the progress made over four years in various ways to improve service delivery through ICT for Ugandans and foreigners who visit the country. It has taken several important steps in improving the systems for the delivery of immigration services in the country as follows;
- Enhancement of the e-Immigration System to facilitate the application of various immigration services which include; Visas, Work Permits and Passes, Certificates of Residence, grant of Uganda Citizenship and border management services. The e-Immigration system is currently deployed at our Regions of Mbarara, Jinja, Mbale, Gulu, Uganda Missions abroad including Washington, London, Ottawa, Paris, and many more.
- The e-Immigration Border Management System has enabled us to offer seamless border control services at Entebbe International Airport which has now adopted the use of e-Gates for our trusted travellers. Efforts to roll out full automation of our borders are in progress.
- The e-Immigration System has also enhanced our capabilities for post-entry migration management through offering real-time notification of expired immigration facilities such as visas, work permits and passes to our legal and inspection teams.
- The introduction of the Electronic Passport System as a measure to conform to the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Authority, improve our Passport system integrity and the security features of the Passport. Indeed, from the onset, the Electronic Passport system efficiency gains were visible as the turnaround time was reduced from 21 workings days to 2-4 days to process and issue a Passport.
With an automated system to cater for several immigration services and ease the work processes of the Ministry like giving real time notifications of expired immigration facilities, this promises to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
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In reference to the current status of passport management, the introduction of the Electronic Passport System is one of the most successful citizen-centric activities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As the numbers of Ugandan nationals travelling abroad continues to soar, so does the demand for passports.
The Ministry also emphasized the simple reminder that the validity of the old Passport only lasts up to 4th April 2022 and people will be required to replace with the electronic passport. And hence, every citizen is encouraged to substitute the new international electronic passport for their old passports.
Some of the interventions carried out to improve passport management are the following;
- The Passport application portals and scheduler system has been configured to avail the time slots on any given day of the week from 07:00 Hrs to 19.00 Hrs each day of the week.
- We also commit to our clients a service standard of 2 days for express applicants and not more than 4 days for normal applicants to receive their Passports from the date of enrolment.
- The Ministry will soon operationalize Kampala Regional Office which will be a Passport Collection Centre to ease the congestion problem currently being experienced at the Ministry Headquarters. The Ministry Headquarters will be preserved for only those seeking to be enrolled for issuance of Passports.
- Procurement is in progress to increase equipment infrastructure capacity that will match the projected demand rates especially as we near the new deadline of 4th April 2022 for the old Machine Readable Passport that we communicated to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Applications are made strictly online at www.passports.go.ug. The Ministry calls on the public to comply with the existing passport applications, which are only available in scheduled dates and time, in particular at enrolment centres.
For the full statement on the various interventions, go to this LINK.
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