A group of Ugandan students destined for internship have raised complaints after Danish authorities rejected Uganda’s newly introduced polycarbonate electronic passports.

In March, Uganda upgraded from paper-based biodata electronic passports to polycarbonate e-passports.

Officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the upgraded polycarbonate e-passports just like paper-based e-passports have an electromagnetic chip and tough plastic layers infused together leading to a finished material where personal data is engraved inside the deeper layers of the document with laser.

However, according to a group of 20 Ugandan student, the new e-passports have been rejected by Danish authorities and consequently denied them visas for internship in the Nordic country.

Among those complaining is Ivan Amanya who got his passport in March and sought to travel to Denmark for internship but was denied visa on claims that the passport could not be used.

“The embassy has received your application for residence permit for internship in Denmark. Unfortunately, the embassy is not able to forward your application to the Danish Immigration Service for processing of your visa because the new Ugandan passports have not bee approved by the Denmark authorities,” the email from visa section of the Danish embassy reads in part.

According to Amanya, he doesn’t know what to do next after his new Ugandan passport was rejected.

He says his plight is shared by at least 20 other Ugandans who have specifically denied Danish visas where they were destined for internship.

The dilemma

According to the victims, when they apply for visas at the Visa Facilitation Services Global(VFS Global) at Lugogo, they are bounced whereas those who had earlier been allowed, the decision was reversed.

They say many of them have lost huge sums of in this application.

“Anyone intending to go to Denmark has to pay for a case ID to SIRI( Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration) which issues a work permit for Denmark. However, the dilemma is that when you pay for visa and permit, it takes 14 days for the case ID to expire but within this period, you must have had your biometrics recorded,” a source that preferred anonymity told this website.

A source who is one of the victims says that this process costs about $1000 including the consular fee for the embassy. Read More from source