By Siem Fredrik van Eck
Foreign students in Uganda are stranded following a collapse of the online portal which they should use to register and acquire their passes to enable their continued stay in the country.
The development has generated panic amongst the many international students who now risk being arrested and deported.
In an earlier press conference on Monday Morning, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Simon Peter Mundeyi called upon learning institutions to desist from harbouring international students without passes.
He said the Immigration offices will continue to enforce student passes for foreign students studying and living in the country.
A student pass costs USD 100 and is applied online.
However, as of today, many students remain stranded since the system is unable to service them.
A foreign student at Makerere University intimated to Nile Post that after several attempts to apply for the student pass online, his application kept declining.
“To be honest, my application for a student visa kept being declined, so I ended up with just the tourist visa,” the student said on condition of anonymity.
A student pass is granted to any foreigner aged between 4 years and over in a Ugandan learning institution.
At least 200,000 learners have over the last two years been registered as foreign students in Uganda.