The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control can not start charging passport applicants 80,000 shillings until the statutory instrument setting the fee is amended.
The Ministry of Finance recently directed the Immigration to charge 80,000 shillings for people applying for new passports.
However the Immigrations spokesperson Eunice Kisembo says the new fees can only be levied after the statutory instrument number 14 that sets the fees at 50,000 is amended.
Today afternoon the department was not issuing bank payment slips to new passport applicants until the impasse is resolved. A January 27 letter from the Ministry of Finance signed by Keith Muhakanizi directed Immigrations to start implementing the new rate as of February 1.
The increment in passport fees arises from a 2008/2009 budget speech in which former Finance Minister Ezra Suruma made a pronouncement that Ministries should revise their Non-Tax revenue rates with effect from January 1, 2009.
The Immigration department is still holding over 2,000 passports that were printed to be sold at 50,000 shillings by the Ministry of Finance. Officers at Immigration are wondering what will be done with these passports.
The letter from the Ministry of Finance recommends that foreigners on government contracts be charged 250,000 shillings yet another letter puts the figure at 900,000 shillings.
The letter lowers the money the immigration department was charging from spouses of holders of worker permits from 450,000 shillings to 90,000 shillings. While the money charged for children of foreign nationals was also reduced from 100,000 shillings to 36,000 shillings.
The Director of Immigrations has called for an important department meeting Wednesday to solve the problem.
