Uganda opens E-Passport enrolment Centre in Beijing

The Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship Control (DCIC) has opened an E-passport enrolment centre at the Embassy of Uganda in Beijing.

Simon Mundeyi, the Internal Affairs Ministry spokesman, said the centre will enrol Ugandans living and working in China and the accredited countries of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Kingdom of Cambodia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

Internal Affairs Minister Gen Kahinda Otafiire, and the ambassador of Uganda to China H.E Oliver Wonekha presided over the launch.

“The DCIC embarked on the diaspora rollout program at the beginning of 2022 starting with London, Washington DC, Abu Dhabi and Pretoria. Passport Centres have subsequently also been opened in Ottawa, Copenhagen and now Beijing,” he said.

Mundeyi said Ugandans in China and the stated accredited countries now no longer need to travel back to get their passports as they can apply online at www.passports.go.ug, get personalized and pick their passports when ready at the embassy.

The Government of the Republic of Uganda started issuing the international E-passport to the citizens on 7th Dec 2018 and as a result, stopped the issuance of the old type of Machine-Readable passports.

Government-issued a notification of a 2-year transition period to phase out the old Machine-Readable passport by 31st January 2022. However, due to the restriction by the Covid-19 pandemic, the deadline for phasing out was extended to 4th of April 2022.

Old Machine-readable passports (Dark-blue) are also no longer used even by returning Ugandans living in the diaspora making this Passport Centre very timely.

“The Government of the Republic of Uganda calls upon all its citizens living in China and the accredited countries to take advantage of this newly opened centre to apply to renew their passports to avoid any inconveniences related to this phase out,” Mundeyi said.

The ordinary passport fees will cost Shs250,000, service passports at Shs400,000 while diplomatic passports will cost Shs500,000.