Gov’t Destroys 158,000 Unclaimed Passports

The Immigration Office under the Ministry of Internal Affairs has destroyed 158,000 passports that remained uncollected for the past eight years.

Simon Peter Mundeyi, the Ministry’s Public Relations Officer, told the media on Monday that all these passports belong to Ugandans who applied and paid for them but never collected them, despite repeated reminders.

Speaking during the weekly security briefing at Police Headquarters in Naguru, Mundeyi explained the decision, stating that the unclaimed passports had become a storage burden.

“We have been calling out to the owners, but they never showed up. We don’t have space to keep them indefinitely, so we had no choice but to destroy them. As of now, we still have 12,580 passports lying in our stores,” he said.

Mundeyi revealed that these remaining passports have been in storage since 2018, and despite multiple attempts to contact the applicants through messages and public announcements, they remain unclaimed. However, privacy laws prevent authorities from publishing the names of the passport holders.

He warned that the 12,580 remaining passports will also be destroyed if their owners do not collect them soon.

In addition to the uncollected passports, Mundeyi disclosed that 60,000 passports were returned by labor export companies that failed to send their applicants abroad for work, particularly in Arab countries.

“We requested these companies to return the passports. They are still valid, and we have them. We urge all Ugandans who were unable to travel to check if their passports are among these,” he said.

According to Mundeyi, most of these passports remain valid until 2030 or 2031. He assured that they are available for collection free of charge, as they belong to their rightful owners. However, if they remain unclaimed after a specified period, they too will be destroyed.

Mundeyi also addressed concerns about the passport notification system, which had been experiencing issues. The system, which sends SMS alerts to applicants once their passports are ready, had malfunctioned but has now been restored.

He urged individuals who applied for passports between January and now but have not received an SMS to check their application status online.

“If you fall in this category, please visit our website and verify the status of your passport,” he advised.

The Ministry continues to urge the public to collect their passports promptly to avoid future losses and inconveniences.