Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control (DCIC) collected more than sh80 billion in visa and dependent pass charges in the last financial year. Simon Peter Mundeyi, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Spokesperson, released statistics indicating that DCIC issued 266,537 visas at USD 50 each during the 2023/2024 fiscal year, translating to sh49.7 billion.
Additionally, DCIC issued 12,970 dependent passes for USD 400 each, totaling 19.3 billion Shillings. These passes are issued to individuals coming to Uganda to stay under the care of their parents, guardians, or spouses.
“We have seen an increase in the number of Ugandan women applying for dependent passes for their foreign spouses. A man comes from a foreign country to be taken care of by his Ugandan spouse. This is not a common practice in our African tradition,” Mundeyi said.
DCIC collected 5.1 billion shillings from student passes issued to foreign students coming for university or secondary studies. Mundeyi noted an increase in foreign students applying for student passes, indicating growing trust in the Ugandan education system by many countries.
Special passes earned the Ugandan government five billion shillings, while 2.7 billion Shillings was collected from certificates of residence. “We want to inform people in Uganda and abroad that we don’t give special passes to everybody. You must have rare skills that no Ugandan possesses,” Mundeyi said. He raised concerns about East African nationals, especially Kenyans, who do not apply for work permits despite starting businesses in Uganda.
“Even when you are an EAC citizen, you need a work permit. This work permit is free for EAC citizens except for our DRC brothers and sisters. Our friends from Kenya do not visit immigration to get these work permits but just start their businesses. For those from the DRC, they are not charged for entry visas but are charged for other facilities like work permits,” Mundeyi said.
Besides money collected from visas, DCIC rescued 144 Ugandans trafficked by unscrupulous people in the last financial year. DCIC also received 752 deported Ugandans who had illegally entered other countries or overstayed their visas and work permits.
DCIC deported 972 foreigners for illegal entry or overstaying after their visas, special passes, work permits, or student passes had expired. Mundeyi also reported that five of the 135 illegal foreigners arrested a fortnight ago have since escaped from Namanve cells and are being hunted by joint forces. These include four Eritreans and one Ethiopian.
****
URN