Ugandan East African passports not rejected by Danish embassy- Foreign Affairs ministry

The Foreign Affairs ministry has denied reports that the Uganda East African passports had been rejected by the Danish embassy.

Some sections of the media reported on Friday that the new e-passports had been rejected.

In a visa application rejected, a Ugandan applicant was told by Anne Ostman, a Danish Consular officer in Nairobi that “you have applied using the new Ugandan EAC passport that was launched in December 2018. Unfortunately, this passport is not yet approved by the Danish authorities, therefore we cannot issue a visa for this passport.”

However, the Ugandan government has cleared the air on the confusion saying that the new passports have not been rejected but rather being integrated into the system.

“The Embassy of Denmark like other Diplomatic and Consular Missions and International organizations accredited to Uganda were informed and issued samples of the new passports, ”a statement from the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

The statement added that samples of the new passports were forwarded to the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 2019 , adding that they are still entering it into their system.

“The process of entering into their system is ongoing and shall be concluded soon.”

The ministry also noted that there are two Ugandans wishing to travel to Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital in April this year and have been assured that their applications will soon be processed as soon as the registration process is completed.

“The ministry therefore wishes to appeal to the public to be patient as the immigration authorities of the foreign governments update their systems.”

The Ugandan government has always defended the newly introduced East African passports as being in compliance with a directive by the East African Council of Ministers for all regional countries to have East African passports by January 2018.

They say that other East African countries started issuing the new passports as early as last year.

According to government, the new e-passports are also as a result of a recommendation by the International Civil Aviation Authority (to which Uganda subscribes) for all countries to issue passports embedded with electronic chips that bear biometric data of the holders.