KAMPALA.
Travellers to the United States of America for business or tourism will now receive visas valid for only one entry and a three-month stay.
This is a shift from the previous arrangement where applicants could get a two-year multiple-entry visa .
The change, which took effect on July 8, follows Executive Order 14161, signed by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, to “protect the national interests and security of the United States,” US Ambassador William Popp told journalists in Kampala yesterday.
“New non-immigrant visas for Ugandan citizens will mirror the validity that Ugandan visas grant to American travellers—one entry, three months,” Ambassador Popp said, stressing that the policy is reciprocal and part of a wider review affecting “various countries.” Student visa terms, he added, will continue to be issued case by case.
While the validity of the visa is three months, immigration officers will have the discretion to determine how long the visa holder may stay in the US, which may even be a shorter period.
“It is the immigration officer at the Port of Entry who determines how long an individual may stay in the US.
This period will be stated to the traveller or stamped in the individual’s passport. It is important to confirm at that time how long you are permitted to stay in the United States and ensure that you remember and depart the United States by that date!,” the US mission in Kampala said in a statement on Monday
Although the duration has been reduced , visa fees remain unchanged because they are set globally to recover processing costs, including interviews, website infrastructure, and printing. Existing visas already in holders’ passports will remain valid until their printed expiry dates.
Ambassador Popp said the US every so often reviews each country’s security practices, information sharing, and overstay rates. The aim is to prevent fraud, reduce immigration violations, and ensure “removable nationals” are repatriated promptly. “The United States must guarantee that foreign travellers do not compromise our security,” he said.
Ms Tania Romanoff, the Consular Section chief at the US Embassy in Kampala, cited three persistent problems: visa overstays, forged documents, and birth tourism—the practice of travelling primarily to give birth so the child obtains US citizenship. “If a consular officer believes giving birth is the applicant’s main purpose, the visa will be refused,” she warned.
According to the latest US Department of Homeland Security Entry/Exit Overstay Report, 8.42 percent of Ugandans on B1/B2 business and tourism visas failed to depart on time between October 2022 and September 2023. In 2023, US data show 173 Ugandan students out of 1,035 overstayed.
Fraud is also on the embassy’s radar. Brian Jolda, the Supervisory Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service, said five Ugandan applicants were arrested in the past two weeks for using forged academic certificates, bank statements, national IDs, and diplomatic notes.
Uganda’s Internal Affairs ministry spokesman Simon Peter Mundeyi confirmed the arrests and urged applicants to “avoid fake or unauthentic documents.”
Mr Herbert Byaruhanga, the Secretary General of the Association of Uganda Tour Operators, predicted higher costs and administrative headaches. “After three months, you must reapply, and the process is tedious,” he said.
Mr Byaruhanga argued that Uganda should extend longer visas to Americans, rather than restricting them to 90 days, to ease trade and tourism.
US officials stress that the new rule is neither punitive nor unique to Uganda. Similar restrictions have been applied to other nations whose reciprocity schedules or security metrics fall short of Washington’s benchmarks.