Over 10 labour export firms have vanished with 10,000 passports belonging to Ugandans seeking work abroad, the internal affairs ministry has revealed.
The migrant workers had handed their passports to the firms for processing of visas, mostly those seeking work in the Middle East.
Simon Mundeyi, the internal affairs ministry spokesperson, said preliminary investigations show that the implicated firms have since closed shop after failing in business, taking with them the passports and leaving their victims stranded as a result.
“We have received girls at our headquarters, who are complaining. It is my humble appeal that these labour export firms return the passports so that the girls try their fortunes elsewhere,” he said. Mundeyi said they require the companies to return all unprocessed passports.
However, he said only seven companies had so far returned a total of 9,000 passports, adding that another 10,000 passports taken by other companies cannot be accounted for.
“We have tried about 16 companies that closed but many of their numbers are off, yet these girls are desperate and they need their passports,” he said yesterday during the weekly security briefing at the Uganda Police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala.
He added that some of the girls had gone ahead to leave their national identity cards with the firms, which have also suffered the same fate.
“These girls cannot now access services in Uganda on account of not having their national IDs and passports.”
At least 120,000 workers left Uganda between January and December 2023 in search of employment abroad, according to data from the ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development. Mundeyi also revealed that they currently have in their possession No uncollected passports, noting that these were returned after being abandoned by Ugandans at the Chinese embassy in Kampala.
He said the passports were deposited to process visas, but that the applicants had not bothered to pick them.
Mundeyi, who did not provide details on why the passports may have been abandoned, said most of the applicants had been granted visas but they were soon expiring due to staying at the embassy for long.
“We appeal to anyone who may have applied for a visa at the embassy to contact us and take their documents,” he said.
He also clarified on the eligibility for the Ugandan passport, noting that people born in Uganda to foreign parents cannot make a claim to the passport.
He said the law does not recognise them as Ugandans, but they can acquire citizenship by naturalisation after making an application to the embassy.
DIASPORA APPLICATIONS
Simon Mundeyi, the internal affairs ministry spokesperson, acknowledged that some people in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were finding it difficult to apply for passports. He said applications have indeed dropped significantly, especially in Abu Dhabi.
“Previously, between zoo to 30o applications would be received by the embassy daily, but these have since dropped to an average of only five.”
He said preliminary investigations show that the applications may have reduced on account of changes in application procedures, especially for those who have lost their passports.
Now, he said, applicants are expected to come to Kampala physically unlike before when one would apply from Uganda’s embassies abroad.
He cautioned Ugandans against paying brokers to process for them passports, saying the Government has made the process easier and that all applicants have to do is log in to the passport website: www.passports. go.ug
Once logged in, Mundeyi said the system will display a form requiring simple information including biodata, which one is supposed to fill in before paying.
