{"id":30863,"date":"2022-05-13T16:49:30","date_gmt":"2022-05-13T16:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office"},"modified":"2022-05-13T17:00:31","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T17:00:31","slug":"witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office","title":{"rendered":"Witness narrates ordeal at passport office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>The easier part in a frustrating passport application process is the filling of an online form through the DCIC Passport Portal.<\/p>\n

Under normal situation, passport processing takes between two to six weeks, however, for express window, you can receive your passport within three to four days, but there is a mandatory Shs500,000 charge.<\/p>\n

Internal Affairs stuck with over 10,000 new passports<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t congest our offices over passports – ministry<\/p>\n

In an attempt to cut off the middlemen and endemic corruption, the government phased out the manual processing of the passports and adopted a digital system. Authorities at Immigration Directorate hoped to ease crowds, distressing long queues, and unscrupulous brokers.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the government announced plans to migrate from machine-readable passports to biometric ones- the East African electronic passports (e-Passort) \u2014 in compliance with international standards.<\/p>\n

For many, the digital system is as useless as the traditional system in view of the delays at the passport offices, long queues and the corruption in the system.<\/p>\n

The submission of a complete application form together with confirmed appointment schedules, is the beginning of the pain in a clumsy passport application process. It doesn\u2019t matter whether you are renewing or applying for the first-time, you suffer the same way.<\/p>\n

A queue snaking through Port Bell Road welcomes you to Ministry of Internal Affairs. Awkwardly, some people (especially those with connections within the passport office and other higher offices) simply wave coloured chits and they are allowed to jump the queue. With a chit, the appointment schedules don\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

When you finally beat the logjam, you are again struck by a sea of interviewees crammed in a giant warehouse, many of them young girls seeking jobs in the Arab world. Some have no seats, they are either standing or seated on a dusty floor.<\/p>\n

Here, after hours of waiting, you are cross-examined to confirm your citizenship and after a few minutes, you are given a special identification number before another immigration officer captures your finger prints, National ID data and other details needed.<\/p>\n

Witness account<\/p>\n

One of the applicants [names withheld], joked in February as we braved crowds, waiting for long hours to access service that \u201cthis warehouse is not for the fainthearted, people especially with peptic ulcers can simply collapse from here.\u201d<\/p>\n

After finalising the application process, you are given a reference number for picking your passport upon receiving a text message. However, I learnt from people in the queue that the politically connected individuals at times collect their travel documents without receiving any text message and that others bribe their way into the buildings. One of the girls in her 20s told us that lining up is for people with \u201cshallow pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alleged corruption<\/p>\n

At some point, I had decided to go through a broker who had promised to help me jump the queue and cut the waiting time to a maximum of 20 minutes. He had asked for Shs50,000 and later settled for Shs20,000 before I changed my mind. But as you sweat in a snaking line, you realise that it is even worse at the passport collection centre in Kyambogo.<\/p>\n

Many frustrated applicants complain of long waits, with some forced to leave in protest. The absence of a well-staffed information desk, has made matter worse. If you don\u2019t pay attention to the order of your names and the counter number, \u201cyou suffer locally\u201d, one of the angry applicants told us.<\/p>\n

The new system, intended to improve service delivery, is being cursed by many frustrated applicants, especially those with \u201cshallow pockets\u201d and have no connections in higher offices.<\/p>\n

The loopholes at the passport offices, now threatens to undercut government efforts to shorten lines at the immigration directorate.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. The easier part in a frustrating passport application process is the filling of an online form through the DCIC Passport Portal. Under normal situation, passport processing takes between two to six weeks, however, for express window, you can receive your passport within three to four days, but there is a mandatory Shs500,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-30863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nWitness narrates ordeal at passport office - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The easier part in a frustrating passport application process is the filling of an online form through the DCIC Passport ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Witness narrates ordeal at passport office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The easier part in a frustrating passport application process is the filling of an online form through the DCIC Passport ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-13T16:49:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-13T17:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_8-627e8e945cfc1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Witness narrates ordeal at passport office\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-13T16:49:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-13T17:00:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office\"},\"wordCount\":633,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/05\/postQueueImg_8-627e8e945cfc1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/witness-narrates-ordeal-at-passport-office\",\"name\":\"Witness narrates ordeal at passport office - 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