Old Passports To Be Phased Out Next Year.

By Amy

The Government of the Republic of Uganda started issuance of the International e-Passport to the citizens on 7th December 2018 and as a result stopped issuance of the Machine-Readable Passports. Government issued a notification of a 2-year transition period to phase out the Machine-Readable Passports by 31st January 2021.

But due to the restrictions that have been brought about by COVID-19 Pandemic, the deadline for phase of Machine-Readable Passports cannot be achieved without inconveniencing the public. Since many Ugandans haven’t yet transitioned to the e-Passport. Therefore, the government extended the phase out period from 31st January 2021 to 4th April 2022.
“The Machine-Readable Passports will continue to be used as a valid travel document alongside the new International e-Passport until 4th April 2022,” the government said.

The Government of the Republic of Uganda calls upon the public to take note of the new deadline. All citizens who have not yet changed to the new international e-Passport are encouraged to use this window of opportunity to migrate to the new e-Passport to avoid any inconveniences related to the new deadline.

The e-Passport is said to come in handy in many ways, one being that there will not be losing of such documents and go through another long & most probably costly process.