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Ugandans can now apply for passports online
Passport applicants at the the registration desk at the Ministry of Internal Affairs head office at Port Bell Road, in Kampala. PHOTO BY ABUBAKER LUBOWA
Citizens wishing to apply for a passport can now do so digitally. The government has activated the e-application portal which can be found on the website www.passports.go.ug.
This comes after government launched the digital passport, in compliance with international standards at the end of 2018. However, at that time, the application process remained tedious, with applicants making endless trips to the long queues at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Head office at Port Bell Road in Kampala. Applicants queued up as early as 7:00am so as to beat the numbers. With the e-application portal now activated, that should change.
The website, which has been a work in progress for a long time, is finally up and running.
It is user friendly, and like any other e-application portal, one has to first read and agree to the terms of reference before they can proceed to enter their details into the system.
According to the Privacy Policy on the website, applicants’ personal information is kept only for a limited period of time to fulfil the purpose for which it is collected.
A screenshot of the e-application portal
“We take precautions to protect applicant's information from any loss or illegal usage, access and disclosure. All the applicant's information is secured by safeguards with regards to sensitivity level of the information of the applicant,” section two of the terms of reference states.
The site also has a disclaimer on the time taken to process a passport.
“Processing times for a passport totally depends on the information provided and additional checks of the information is done by competent authorities.”
Once a person enters their details into the system, they are given a reference number, which they can then use to track their application.
In a phone interview this morning, Internal Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Jacob Siminyu confirmed that the e-application process is real and that the Ministry would issue a statement to that effect.
“When someone applies through the website now, they can get a passport,” he said.
