In December 2018, the Republic of Uganda introduced a new International Ugandan e-Passport (electronic passport) to replace the old one in favor of the current East African and International Machine-Readable passport. Today, many Ugandans are flocking the ministry of internal affairs offices to get hold of the new passports, some are either replacing their old ones or acquiring a new one for the first time, despite the saga that merged during the rollout.
Issuance of the International EAC e-Passport was commenced on 7th December, 2018. However, full commissioning of the centralized Passport system never took place until end of January 2019 when the entire system was fully operationalized. The e-Passport enrollment and delivery system was also rolled out to local regional centers and Uganda Missions abroad.
Categories of the Ugandan e-passport
The travel documents are made in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Document 9303, Part 1 and has dimensions of 88mm by 125mm. The new Ugandan e-Passports will be presented in the following colors: Sky Blue (Ordinary Passport) with 48 pages, Green (Service Passport) and Red (Diplomatic Passport) both the latter come with 64 pages.
They have an embedded electronic chip which has the bio-data and biometric information of the holder.The e-Passport will have security features of significant national importance to Uganda which include the Coat of Arms, the Crested Crane, the Mountain Gorilla, the Independence Monument, Murchison Falls and a Fisherman.
e-passport security features
a. Cover
Cover Material: It is made of a high-quality heat resistant and environmentally friendly cellulose-based material with acrylic coating . It has a tear-proof chemical coating on it which is sweat and damp-resistant as well.
1. Gold fold embossing: The front cover has a gold fold embossing as specified by the EU regulations and ICAO recommendations.
2. ICAO chip symbol: the cover will identify the passport as an e-passport by means of this symbol.
3 & 4. Embedded chip and antenna: This is the star of the show, it keeps all your bio-data and is what makes the passport machine readable. The invisible chip is embedded between the cover of the booklet and the first inner page. It is wrapped in a flexible material which is done during the production process. This chip which is ultimately connected to the antenna (4) that enables easy pick up of signals.
5. UV Index: The inner pages contain an invisible Ultra Violet (UV) page number. From one page to the next, the position of the invisible numbering is transposed vertically by the height of one square. If the edge of the closed passport is viewed under UV light a stepped line becomes visible which can reveal substituted or missing pages.
b. Inside the Ugandan e-passport
The document is numbered consecutively and the e-passport types could be differentiated by the prefixes and the numbering ranges as specified by the government and consists of 9 digits. Specially developed software transfers the logging files produced, verifies these numbers against specifications and provides and continuous, comprehensive protocol.
1. Printed e-passport number: The serial numbering of the e-passport is in clear text OCR-B which is numbering for page 1. This number lights up yellow in under UV light.
2. Laser perforated numbering: There is laser perforated numbering for all the inner pages (except the data page) and through the back end of the cover. In contract to the mechanical perforation, laser perforation is conical, this means the diameter of circular laser and perforated holes decreases as the page number increases, making the laser perforation unique.
3. Stored e-passport number: The electronic coding of the serial number and type of Ugandan e-passport stored in the chip is for contactless reading during personalization.
c. Data page
This is the main page of your passport that has all your data and is “human readable”. It has a has a hot lamination security foil that covers it and this is done to protect the information on the data page. There is also a separate heat seal laminate that gives a hologram effect (kinetic rotation effect). There is a coat of arms symbol near the passport number, kinetic effect on like structure “UGA”, etc. The data on this page is printed by an inkjet printer and afterwards the foil is further laminated onto this page.
Passport fees structure
To get yourself a shiny new passport you will have to adhere to the fees structure below:
- Ordinary Passport (48 Pages) – UGX 250,000
- Service Passport (64 Pages) – UGX 400,000
- Diplomatic Passport (64 Pages) – UGX 500,000
- Express Processing Service – UGX 150,000
- Courier service for Applicants Abroad -UGX 10,000
- Certification of Passport UGX -30,000
- Fine for Replacement of lost or damaged Passport -UGX 100,000
How to apply for a new Ugandan e-Passport online
Before the full commissioning of the e-Passport system, the following shall apply;
- Dully filled application Form
- Attach original and copy of the National ID of the Recommender
- Attach original and copy National ID or National Identification Number
- Attach copies of academic documents for proof of profession(where applicable)
- Attach proof of payment of prescribed fees
- Attach a copy of birth certificate, adoption order consent letter from parents/guardians in case of minors
- Attach any other information that may be relevant to the application
- When the passport is ready, the applicant will be alerted to proceed and pick up their passport.
The e-Passport application process will be both manual and online and the procedure below shows how one shall be able to apply online. Please note that you must have a National ID number (NIN) for this procedure as well.
- Fill out an online form.The form will act as an assessment tool with URA.
- Schedule an interview online with the Passport Office (Kampala, Mbale, Mbarara, Gulu and all Uganda Missions abroad) for purposes of enrolling applicants’ biometrics.
- Print out the application with the Payment Registration Number (PRN), proceed to the Bank to pay the passport Fees.
- After payment, you will proceed to the Enrollment center mentioned above for the scheduled appointment.
- After the interview, the application will be processed internally and the passport printed for those that will
- qualify.
- When the passport is ready, you will be alerted to proceed and pick up your passport.
- If you don’t qualify, you will still be issued a notice
Phasing out old Passports
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has designated a two-year transitional period to allow for a gradual phase
out of the current passport. The transitional period is scheduled to run from the full commissioning date whereafter all Ugandans shall only be eligible to travel with the International EAC e-Passport.
During the transitional period all citizens with valid Machine-Readable Passports will continue to use them for international travel until January 2021. For the avoidance of doubt, after the end of January2021, only the International e-Passport will be valid for International travel.
