Phase one is complete for the rollout of the first e-passport enrolment centre for Ugandans living and working in China.

Making the announcement, Simon Mundeyi from the Internal Affairs Ministry signalled the expansion of centres to cover China’s huge and growing population in the near future. Physicals centres will support an initial online and mobile  enrolment process.

E-passports were announced to citizens on December 7. Applications can be made at http://www.passports.go.ug where there is an associated fee and booking system to schedule in-person appointments.

The centres, currently being erected in China, will process applications for electronic passports following a 2-year transition period to completely phase out machine-readable passports.

The Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship Control stated that they had embarked on the concentration of centres starting in London, Washington, Pretoria, South Africa and Canada and the rollout programme would be ongoing to build centres in France.

His tone was encouraging to people who have the right to migrate to these countries to work or live, contributing to inclusive and safe societies where everyone has a recognised passport.

Applicants will receive a notification to collect their passport in-person at centres where their fingerprints and photo will be taken.