However, Siminyu has explained that the ministry is now operating at full capacity and as a result, they are able to release 1500 passports every day. Some of the passports, according to Siminyu, are being accessed at regional offices in among other areas Mbarara and Mbale.
URN.The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has said it has increased the number of passports being issued daily.
After nearly three months of issuing only 500 passports every day, the Ministry has said it has increased the numbers by 1000. In September this year, MIA through it spokesperson, Jacob Siminyu, revealed that it was operating at half capacity in a bid to control the spread of Covid19.
As a result, Siminyu, said a decision had been taken to issue only 500 passports per day despite the fact that they have over 1000 applicants everyday who meet all the criteria of getting a passport.
However, Siminyu has explained that the ministry is now operating at full capacity and as a result, they are able to release 1500 passports every day. Some of the passports, according to Siminyu, are being accessed at regional offices in among other areas Mbarara and Mbale.
For people living in Kampala and neighbouring districts are advised to visit former Face Technologies in Kyambogo. Siminyu explains that express passports do not exceed three days while ordinary applicants wait for not more than five days.
“As we speak now we are giving out more than 1500 passports every day. If you had applied for a passport, just walk to Kyambogo and you will find it there. If you applied for express and it has taken three days or if you applied for ordinary passports and it has taken over five days, just walk to Kyambogo,” explains Siminyu.
Labour export companies have been complaining about the reduced number of passports because those can be taken by only two to three groups of people going for external domestic work.
In an earlier interview, Ronnie Mukundane, the spokesperson of Uganda Association for External Recruitment Agencies (UAERA) that even before the second COVID-19 lockdown which was lifted at the start of August, they had expressed concern that even 1,500 passports would not enough.
UAERA argued that ever since COVID-19 shook the world, more opportunities are coming up and this needs many passports being needed by workers. Most of the people going for domestic jobs abroad end up working in Arab world.
At the start of the last half of 2021, immigration department indicated that more than 500 people majorly girls and women leave Uganda going for domestic jobs in the Arab world.
