Date of entry into force:02 April 1969 This legislation includes amendments up to and including: 1984

IMMIGRATION CONTROL

1. Immigration Control Board

(1)There shall be a board, to be known as the Immigration Control Board, consisting of a chairman and not less than six nor more than eight other members, all of whom shall be appointed by the Minister.

(2)A member of the Board shall hold office for a period of two years and shall be eligible for reappointment.

(3)Any member of the Board may resign his office by writing under his hand addressed to the Minister or may be removed from office by the Minister for failure or inability to discharge the functions of his office.

(4)Subject to the provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of this section, a member of the Board shall hold office upon such terms and conditions, including remuneration, as the Minister may determine.

(5)The Commissioner for Immigration shall be the Secretary of the Board, but not a member thereof, and shall perform such functions as may be assigned to him by the Board.

3. Meetings of the Board

(1)The Board shall meet for the discharge of its functions under this Act at least once in every month at such place and time as the chairman shall appoint;

(2)In the absence of the Chairman the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Internal Affairs shall act as Chairman and the Permanent Secretary, a member of the Board nominated by the Minister shall preside;

(3)The quorum of any meeting of the Board shall be five.

(4)Questions proposed at the meeting of the Board shall be determined by a simple majority of the members thereof present and voting, and, in the case of an equality of votes, the person presiding at the meeting shall have a casting vote.

(5)Save as is provided in this section, the Board may regulate its own procedure.

(6)Nothing done by the Board shall be treated as invalid by reason of a deficiency in the number of the members thereof provided any such action is subsequently ratified by the Board.

4. Immigration officers

There shall be a Commissioner for Immigration, a Deputy Commissioner for Immigration, such Senior Immigration Officers and other immigration officers as may be considered necessary for the proper carrying out of the provisions of this Act.

5. Powers and duties of immigration officers, etc.

(1)For the purpose of exercising his functions under this Act, an immigration officer may,

(a)without a search warrant, enter upon and search any ship, aircraft, train or vehicle in Uganda;

(b)interrogate any person whom he reasonably believes,

(i)is about to enter or leave Ugande;

(ii)is a prohibited immigrant; or

(iii)is able to give any information regarding any infringement or suspected infringement of this Act or any regulation made thereunder;

(c)require any person who desires to enter Uganda,

(i)to make and sign a declaration in such form as may be prescribed by regulations made under this Act;

(ii)to submit himself to a medical examination by a medical practitioner appointed by the Minister responsible for health;

(d)require the person in charge of a ship, aircraft, train or vehicle arriving from or leaving for any place outside Uganda to furnish a list in duplicate, signed by himself, of the names of all persons in his ship, aircraft, train or vehicle;

(e)if there is reasonable cause to suspect that any person has contravened any of the provisions of this Act or that his presence in Uganda is unlawful, and, if in order to prevent the purposes of this Act from being defeated it is necessary to arrest such person immediately, arrest any such person without a warrant, and the provisions of section 30 of the Criminal Procedure Code shall apply to such arrest;

(f)enter upon any premises during reasonable hours and investigate any matter relating to immigration.

(2)An immigration officer may require any person,

(a)to declare whether or not he is carrying or conveying any documents;

(b)to produce to the officer any documents which he is carrying or conveying,

and may search any such person and any baggage belonging to him or under his control, in order to ascertain whether that person is carrying or conveying any documents and may examine and detain for such time as he thinks proper for the purpose of examination, any documents produced to him or found on such search.

(3)An immigration officer may in writing require any person to attend at his office and to furnish to that officer such information, documents and other particulars as are necessary for the purposes of determining whether that person should be permitted to remain in Uganda.

(4)The powers conferred upon an immigration officer by subsection (2) of this section may be exercised by a police officer.

5A. Inspectors and Investigators

The Commissioner for Immigration may designate such number of Immigration Officers to be Immigration Inspectors and Investigators as he may deem necessary for the purposes of this act.

6. Protection of immigration officers

No matter or thing done by any immigration officer shall, if it is done bona fide for the purposes of executing any provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder, subject such immigration officer of any person acting by his directions to any civil liability.

7. Minister's powers of direction

The Minister may, subject to the provisions of this Act, give directions of a general or specific nature to the Board or any immigration officer, and the Board or immigration officer shall comply with any such direction.

IMMIGRANTS

8. Prohibited immigrants

(1)The following persons are prohibited immigrants and their entry into or presence within Uganda shall be unlawful except in accordance with the provisions of this Act, that is to say,

(a)a destitute person;

(b)a person suffering from mental disorder or a mental defective;

(c)any person who,

(i)refuses to submit to a medical examination after having been required so to do under the provisions of section 5 of this Act;

(ii)is certified, by a medical practicioner appointed for the purpose by the Minister, to be suffering from a contagious or infectious disease which makes his presence in Uganda dangerous to the community;

(d)any prostitute or any person who is living, or who, prior to entering Uganda, was living on the earning of prostitution;

(e)any person against whom there is in force an order of deporation from Uganda made under the provisions of this Act or any other law;

(f)any person whose presence in or entry into Uganda is, or at the time of his entry was, unlawful under this Act or any other law for the time being in force;

(g)any person who has not in his possession a valid passport issued to him by or on behalf of the government of the State of which he is a subject or citizen or a valid passport or document of identity issued to him by an authority recognized by the Government, such document being complete and having endorsed thereon all particulars, endorsements and visas required from time to time by the government or authority issuing such document and by the Government;

(h)a person who in consequence of information received from the government of any State, or any other source deemed reliable by the Minister or the Commissioner for Immigration is declared by the Minister or the Principal Immigration Officer to be an undesirable immigrant; but every declaration of the Principal Immigration Officer under this paragraph shall be subject to confirmation or otherwise by the Minister, whose decision shall be final;

(i)any person who, not having received a free pardon, has been convicted in any country of murder, or any offence for which a sentence of imprisonment has been passed for any term, and who by reason of the circumstances connected therewith is declared by the Minister to be an undesirable immigrant; except that the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to offences of a political character not involving moral turpitude;

(j)any person who is a subject or citizen of any country with which Uganda is at war; and

(k)the children, if under eighteen years of age, and dependants of a prohibited immigrant.

(2)The burden of proof that any person is not a prohibited immigrant shall lie upon that person.

9. Entry into Uganda

(1)Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section and section 20 of this Act, no person shall enter or remain in Uganda unless he is in possession of a valid entry permit, certificate of residence or pass issued to him under or by virtue of the provisions of this Act.

(2)This section shall not apply to such persons or class or persons as the Minister may, by statutory order, declare.

(3)No person who is not a citizen of Uganda shall be issued with any Entry Permit or Pass referred to in subsection (1) of this section unless he is in possession of a valid travel document, that is to say, a Passport, Emergency Certificate, Certificate of Identity or Conventional Travel Document.

ENTRY PERMIT AND CERTIFICATE OF RESIDENCE

10. Entry permit

(1)There shall be the classes of entry permit specified in Schedule 1 to this Act.

(2)Where a person, other than a prohibited immigrant, has made application in the prescribed manner for an entry permit of a particular class, and has satisfied the Board that he belongs to that class and that the conditions specified in the said Schedule in relation to that class are fulfilled, the Board may, at its discretion, issue an entry permit of that class to that person.

(3)Notwithstanding the provisions of the immediately preceding subsection, the Board shall not issue any entry permit to any person unless it is satisfied that the engagement in the employment by that person or the purposes for which the entry permit is granted, (a)shall be of benefit to Uganda or part thereof; and (b)shall not be to the prejudice of the inhabitants generally of Uganda.

(4)Subject to the provisions of the immediately preceding subsection, any entry permit, when issued, shall be valid for a period of five years and thereafter may be renewable for a period of three years whenever it expires.

(5)The Commissioner for Immigration may at any time cancel any entry permit and the person aggrieved by such cancellation may appeal to the Minister.

11. Certificate of residence

(1)The Board may, with the approval of the Minister, grant to any person upon application in the prescribed manner, a certificate of residence, which shall entitle such person to remain in Uganda for such period as the Minister may determine.

(2)Notwithstanding any provision of the preceding subsection the Minister may at any time and without assigning any reason revoke any certificate issued under this section.

(3)The application referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall be in the form set down in Schedule 3 hereof.

DEPORTATION

14. Deportation orders

(1)The Minister may in writing under his hand order any prohibited immigrant, or any person whose presence within Uganda is, under the provisions of this Act, unlawful, to be deported from and remain out of Uganda, either indefinitely or for such period of time as may be specified in the order.

(2)An order made under the provisions of this section shall be carried into effect in such manner as the Minister may direct.

(3)A person against whom a deportation order has been made may, if the Minister so directs, while awaiting deportation and while being conveyed to the place of departure, be kept in custody, and while so kept shall be deemed to be in lawful custody.

(4)If any person is brought before a court by an immigration officer or a police officer and the court is informed that an application for a deportation order in respect of such person has been made, the court may direct that such person be detained in custody for any period not exceeding fourteen days.

(5)A deportation order may at any time be varied or revoked by a further order in writing by the Minister.

(6)Notwithstanding the provisions of the Interpretation Act, it shall not be necessary for a deportation order to be published in the Gazette.

15. Place of deportation

A person against whom a deportation order has been made shall be deported to the place whence he came, or with the approval of the Minister, to some place in the country to which he belongs, or to any place to which he consents to be deported, provided that the government of such last-mentioned place consents to receive him.

16. Arrest of deportees in transit from other countries

(1)Any person who, having been deported from another country, enters Uganda in transit to his destination may be arrested without warrant by any immigration or police officer and may be detained in custody until arrangements are made for the continuation of his journey.

(2)Any person detained in pursuance of this section shall be deemed to be in lawful custody.

(3)A person in charge of a ship, aircraft, train or vehicle leaving for any place outside Uganda shall, if required by an immigration officer, receive on board such ship, aircraft, train or vehicle, a person who is detained under the provisions of this section and shall, on due payment being made, afford such person passage and accommodation for his onward journey to his destination.

MISCELLANEOUS

21. Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,

"appointed member" means a member of the Board appointed by the Minister under subsection (1) of section 1 of this Act;

"Board" means the Immigration Control Board established under section 1 of this Act;

"chairman" means the chairman of the Board;

"Commissioner" means the Commissioner established under the provisions of section 4 of this Act.

"destitute person" means a person who is, in the opinion of the Commissioner for Immigration, incapable of supporting himself and his dependants, if any;

"document of identity" means a document establishing the nationality and identity of the holder for the time being in force issued or renewed by the government of the State of which the holder is a subject or citizen or some other valid document of identity satisfactorily establishing the holder's nationality and identity;

"entry permit" means a permit granted pursuant to the provisions of section 10 of this Act;

"functions" includes powers and duties;

"Minister" means the Minister to whom functions under this Act are assigned;

"pass" means a pass granted pursuant to the provisions of section 18 of this Act; "repealed Act" means the Immigration (Control) Act.

SCHEDULE 1 - CLASSES OF ENTRY PERMIT

Class A: A person in the service of the Government, Makerere University, United Nations Organisation or any other institution or agency approved by the Minister.

Class B: A person intending to engage on his own account in the business of agriculture or animal husbandy in Uganda who satisfies the Board that, (a)he has acquired, or received permission to acquire, an interest in land of an area commensurate with and suitable for the type of business he proposes to undertake in Uganda; and (b)he has in his own right and at his full and free disposition such sum as may be prescribed by the Minister in respect of any class of agriculture or animal husbandry.

Class C: A person intending to engage on his own account in prospecting for minerals or mining in Uganda who satisfies the Board that, (a)he is in possession of, or will be able to obtain, any licence that may be necessary to enable him to engage in prospecting or mining; and (b)he has in his own right and at his full and free disposition such sum as may be prescribed by the Minister in respect of any particular type of prospecting or mining.

Class D: A person intending to carry on a trade, business or profession, other than a prescribed profession, on his own account, or as a partner in a firm, in Uganda, who satisfies the Board that, (a)if a licence is required to enable him to engage in the trade, business or profession, he is in possession of such licence or will be able to obtain one; and (b)he has in his own right and at his full and free disposition such sum as may be prescribed by the Minister in respect of any particular class of such trade, business or profession.

Class E: A person intending to engage in manufacture on his own account in Uganda who satisfies the Board that, (a)if a licence is required to enable him to engage in the manufacture which he intends to carry on, he is in possession of such licence or will be able to obtain one; (b)he has in his own right and at his full and free disposition such sum as may be prescribed by the Minister in respect of any particular class of manufacture.

Class F: A member of a prescribed profession who intends to practise such profession in Uganda who satisfies the Board that,

(a)he is in possession of such qualifications as may be prescribed; and

(b)he is in possession of sufficient capital or assured income to enable him to give effect to his intention.

Class G: A person who satisfies the Board that he has been offered and has accepted employment.

Comments:
This is an unofficial consolidation. Last amendment included here is the Immigration (Amendment) Act, 1984. This document contains only selected provisions.
Disclaimer:

This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.