Uganda’s High Commission in London has officially launched the operationalization of a new e-passport application and issuance system at the mission premises.
The High Commission is the first among Uganda’s Mission's abroad to operationalize the new system and the roll out is expected to be followed by other Missions in different locations including Washington DC (USA), Ottawa (Canada), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Pretoria (South Africa), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Beijing (China).
The event was co-presided over by Uganda’s High Commissioner to the UK also accredited to Ireland, Julius Peter Moto and Maj. Gen. Apollo Kasiita-Gowa, Director Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) accompanied by Brig. Gen. Johnson Namanya Abaho, the Commissioner for Citizenship and Passport Control and Laurent von Burene, Finance Director Uganda Security Printing Company (USPC).
Speaking at the function, Amb. Moto hailed the Ministry of Internal Affairs for efforts in ensuring the operationalization of the new e-passport system which has commenced with the Uganda Mission in London as the pilot.
The High Commissioner noted that the new system would greatly reduce the time it takes to get a new passport processed and issued.
He further noted that the system comes into operation as the country approaches the deadline for phasing out of the old machine-readable passports due on April, 4, 2022.
Maj. Gen. Apollo Kasiita-Gowa commended the High Commission for its efforts in ensuring that Ugandans living in the United Kingdom and Ireland and surrounding areas of accreditation are assisted and receive quality service.
The Director Citizenship and Immigration Control urged the Ugandan community in UK and Ireland to take advantage of the new system to apply for passports considering that after the deadline of April,4, 2022, the old passports will not be in use.
He however noted that the old passports will only be used by citizens returning back to Uganda but not to any other country.
Maj Gen. Kasiita Gowa also highlighted that the new passport system is designed to reduce the turn-around time in processing the passports to effectively serve Ugandans in the diaspora.
At the function, a new passport application processing center with biometric equipment was officially handed over to the High Commission by Maj Gen Apollo Kasiita-Gowa after which 10 applications were spontaneously processed using the new system.
Racheal Nabakemba one of the applicants was one of the recipients of the newly processed passports.
Also in attendance were senior officials from Uganda High Commission, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NITA-U, VERIDOS GmbH company, USPC and representatives of the Ugandan community.
