Many Ugandans intending to travel to the United Kingdom have complained of the difficulties involved in obtaining a visa. They complained that the process was long and costly. Now the Speaker of the Parliament Rebecca Kadaga called on the UK government to streamline the process by cutting down the time it takes and making it less costly. “When your friend is in need of a visa, you must first send them transport of about a month to Pretoria that’s where they are operating. So if I know I can’t travel I must remain a prisoner in my country because am waiting for a visa. So I know it is convenient and cost-effective for the British to centralize. First, I moved from Entebbe to Kampala, then to Nairobi, then to South Africa. So it’s getting harder, so I don’t know maybe next they might decide to take it to Australia.” Said, Rebecca Kadaga – Speaker, Parliament of Uganda.
The Speaker also noted that the conditions set for the Ugandans were more stringent than many other countries. “You want to see a bank account with 8 million shillings, but not everybody wants to stay here, people just want to visit and go back. People love their country but there’s attitude in the visa office that everyone who wants to come to the UK wants to remain here, I don’t want to remain here, I have got my business at home. So we would like to see a change of patent issues there so that we are treated more equitably. We used to have a good relation, I think there was a transmission on arrival in the early years for Ugandans.” Said the Speaker of Ugandan Parliament.
However, one of the reasons given for the tougher visa application requirements for Uganda was that many Ugandans had been reported to go underground and not to return home after their visas had expired. Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament also called upon Lord Perpal to market Uganda as one of the best tourist destinations in the world. “You know sometimes we say that people know about Uganda but does it domestically mean what we mean, they do not that there is a country, the people, and so they don’t know the hypothesis. So we just want to ask that you help to do more marketing and I would like you to send a trade mission to Uganda, I think we hadn’t had a trade mission to our country, we appreciate you to send and they will be able to see more about what we are.” Said the Speaker.
