The government has announced April 4 as the date it will declare Machine-Readable Passports invalid.
The government had earlier announced it would do this by end of January 2021 but this target could not be met as offices were closed for some time during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“The Government has decided to extend the phasing out of the current Machine-Readable Passports (MRPs) until 4th April 2022 to facilitate the transition to the new international EAC e-passports,” reads an official statement obtained by this website.
“This is to inform the general public that all valid Machine-Readable Passports will remain in use until 4th April 2022.”
People have been urged to use this time to replace the old passports with the new digital ones.
The resolution to introduce EAC ePassports was reached during the 17th Ordinary Summit of EAC Heads of State held in March 2016, with an eye on streamlining data access.
The first batch of ePassports was brought in the country in December of 2018.
The costs of the different passports are as follows: Ordinary passport (Shs250,000), Official/service passport (400,000), Diplomatic passport (500,000).
If you apply for an ePassport in Uganda and you want it processed within a short period, you will pay for Express service which costs Shs150,000.
The passport will be certified for Shs30,000 and those abroad are charged Shs10,000 for courier service.
