6000 people to be affected by two-day passport office shutdown

Over 6000 people are to be affected as the ministry of internal affairs undertakes a comprehensive system upgrade and maintenance in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in passport service delivery.

According to the ministry, the system upgrade is to affect all their services including: passport applications, scheduling appointments, enrolment (interviews), printing and collection among others.

Brig. Johnson Namanya Abaho the Commissioner for Citizenship and Passport Control at the ministry of internal affairs noted that passport applicants in different regions of the country and in Diaspora will not be able to access online services via www.passports.go.ug for a period of 2 days.

“We are to carry out a comprehensive system upgrade and maintenance from Thursday 19th to Friday 20th in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in passport service delivery. Additionally, enrollment and collection of passports will also not be possible within this same period,” he explained.

Upon completion of the system upgrade, the ministry noted that applicants, who had already scheduled appointments on Thursday 19th and Friday 20th January 2023, will be served alongside those already scheduled on the days of 23rd and 24th January.

This implies that applicants who were to come for appointments scheduled for Thursday 19th and Friday 20th will now have their appointments on 23rd and 24th January.

Namanya stressed that service centers in Kampala, Mbarara, Gulu, as well as Diaspora offices in Washington, London, Ottawa, Copenhagen, Pretoria and Abu Dhabi will be shut down.