Uganda’s old machine-readable passport transitional period ongoing as phase-out date sets pace

Government of Uganda through the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration (DCIC) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be phasing out the old machine-readable passports by 4^th April 2022 five months from now.

With a nearly five months passport renew deadline coming to a close, many Ugandan citizens that haven’t yet renewed or upgraded their ordinary machine-readable passports  so as to meet the standards of the new East African required Electronic passport stand high chances of flights missing out on flights or limited to travelling out of the Country as the transitional process will in five months from now come to an end. The transitional process continues although was challenged by the outbreak of Covid-19 which brought about the extension of the phase-out date of MRPs to next year April 4^th, 2021.

According to a press statement released by the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration at the Ministry of Internal Affairs earlier this year, Government plans to overhaul the ordinary machine-readable passports are underway as the exercise kicked-off on 7th December 2018 and as a result stopped issuance of the machine-readable Passports.

Government went further to issue a notification of a 2-year transition period to phase out the machine-readable passports by 31st January 2021 although the period was extended due to prolonged existence of the Covid-19 pandemic and preventative guidelines. However, the public was alerted about the decision to push forward the deadline to April next year which is approximately just five months, although the current passport is still valid as a recognized travel document together with the new electronic Passport for the time-being.

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