(1) A recognised refugee staying in Uganda is entitled to a travel document for the purpose of travel outside Uganda, unless compelling reasons of national security or public order require otherwise.

(2) A travel document issued to a recognised refugee shall be valid for all countries except the refugee’s country of origin and those countries with respect to which Uganda has restrictions.

(3) A recognised refugee in possession of a valid passport issued by the country of origin shall surrender that passport to the issuing officer before acquiring a travel document.

(4) A person who has ceased to be a recognised refugee under this Act shall not be issued with a travel document, and if such person is in possession of a travel document, he or she shall surrender it to the immigration office.

(5) For the purposes of this section, "travel document" means a travel document issued under or in accordance with article 28 of the Geneva Convention.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, no person shall be refused entry into Uganda, expelled, extradited or returned from Uganda to any other country or subjected to any similar measures if, as a result of such refusal, expulsion, return or other measure, that person is compelled to return to or remain in a country where—
(a) he or she may be subjected to persecution on account of race, religion, sex, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion; or
(b) his or her life, person or liberty would be threatened on account of external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events seriously disturbing public order in a part of or in the whole of that country.
(2) Where necessary, the Minister shall take such steps as he or she considers appropriate to ensure that a person referred to in subsection (1) of this section gets admission into another country of his or her choice.

(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, a person who has applied for refugee status and every member of that person’s family shall remain in Uganda —

(a) until his or her application is granted or rejected, and no appeal has been filed with the Refugee Appeals Board;
(b) where the application is rejected, until that person has exhausted his or her right of appeal under this Act.

(1) Any person who enters Uganda and wishes to remain in Uganda as a
refugee shall make a written application to the Eligibility Committee for the grant of
refugee status within thirty days after the date of his or her entry into Uganda.
(2) An application made under subsection (1) of this section may be submitted
to the Commissioner through an authorised officer or to the UNHCR representative.
(3) An authorised officer or UNHCR representative to whom an application is
submitted under subsection (2) of this section shall, as soon as is practicable,
forward the application to the Commissioner.

(1) The Minister may, if it is evident that a class of persons qualifies to be
refugees under section 4 of this Act, declare that class of persons to be refugees.
(2) The Minister shall cause a declaration made under subsection (1) of this
section to be published in the Gazette and in any other manner that will best ensure
that the declaration is brought to the attention of the authorised officers and persons
to whom it relates.
(3) The Minister may, where there is a mass influx of asylum seekers into
Uganda, in consultation with the Minister responsible for internal affairs, issue an
order permitting the asylum seekers to reside in Uganda without requiring their
individual status to be determined under section 4 of this Act.
(4) A declaration made under subsection (3) of this section is valid for a period
of two years from the date of the declaration or until the cause of the influx into
Uganda from the country of origin or habitual residence ceases to exist, whichever is
sooner.
(5) Where asylum seekers are permitted to reside in Uganda under subsection
(3) of this section, they shall be subject to the general treatment and rights accorded
to refugees under this Act.
(6) The exclusion of a specified person from a declaration made under
subsection (1) of this section shall not preclude that person from applying to the
Eligibility Committee for the grant of refugee status under this Act.
(7) The termination of temporary protection granted by the Minister under sub-
section (3) of this section shall not preclude any individual of the group of asylum
seekers from applying to the Eligibility Committee for the grant of refugee status
under this Act.

38. Prosecution for unlawful entry or presence in Uganda
(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of the Uganda Citizenship and Immigration
Control Act, Cap. 66, proceedings shall not be instituted or continued against any
person or any member of the family of any such person in respect of his or her
unlawful entry or presence in Uganda if that person—
(a) intends to make an application to be recognised as a refugee under this Act ;
or
(b) has been granted refugee status.
(2) Any person who, having applied and exhausted all rights for the grant of
refugee status under this Act, fails to be recognised as a refugee and unlawfully
continues to stay in Uganda, shall be dealt with under the Uganda Citizenship and
Immigration Control Act, Cap. 66, or any other applicable law.

(1) The Commissioner shall, as soon as is practicable, process the application
for presentation before the Eligibility Committee and may—
(a) require such further information from the applicant as may be necessary to
support the application; and
(b) carry out any inquiry or investigations as he or she may think fit.
(2) The Eligibility Committee shall, within ninety days after the date of receipt
of the application by the Commissioner, consider and determine the refugee status of
the applicant and may, after making any inquiry or investigations as the Committee
may consider necessary—
(a) reject the application; or
(b) grant refugee status to the applicant.
(3) The Commissioner shall, within fourteen days after the date of the decision
of the Eligibility Committee, inform the applicant in writing of the decision of the
Committee.
(4) Where an application is rejected under subsection (2) of this section, the
Eligibility Committee shall state the reasons for its decision in writing and the
applicant shall be provided with a copy of the statement.
(5) For the avoidance of doubt, the period of ninety days referred to in
subsection (2) of this section shall commence on the day following the date on
which the applicant submitted the application to—
(a) the Commissioner;
(b) the authorised officer; or
(c) the UNHCR representative.
(6) Where the Eligibility Committee finds that an application before it is a
clearly abusive or manifestly unfounded application, the Committee shall take
appropriate measures for deportation of the applicant in accordance with the
applicable law.

(1) An applicant aggrieved by the decision of the Eligibility Committee may
appeal to the Appeals Board within thirty days after receipt of the notice of the
decision of the Eligibility Committee.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the Appeals Board may hear
an appeal filed after the expiry of thirty days if the appellant has justifiable cause for
having filed a late appeal.
(3) At the hearing of an appeal under this section, the appellant may appear
before the Appeals Board in person or may be represented by an advocate at his or
her expense.
(4) A decision of the Appeals Board shall be final.

A person qualifies to be granted refugee status under this Act if—
(a) owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, sex,
religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political
opinion, that person is outside the country of his or her nationality and is
unable, or owing to that fear, is unwilling to return to or avail himself or
herself of the protection of that country;
(b) not having a nationality and being outside the country of his or her former
habitual residence owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for
reasons of race, sex, religion, membership of a particular social group or
political opinion, that person is unwilling or unable to return to the
country of his or her former habitual residence;
(c) owing to external aggression, occupation, foreign domination or events
seriously disturbing public order in either a part or the whole of his or her
country of origin or nationality, that person is compelled to leave his or
her place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place
outside his or her country of origin or nationality;
(d) owing to a well-founded fear of persecution for failing to conform to gender
discriminating practices, that person is compelled to leave his or her
place of habitual residence in order to seek refuge in another place
outside the country of origin or nationality;
(e) that person is considered a refugee under any treaty obligation to which
Uganda is a party, or any law in force at the commencement of this Act;
or
(f) that person is a member of a class of persons declared to be refugees under
section 25 of this Act.

A person does not qualify to be granted refugee status if—
(a) that person has committed a crime against peace, a war crime or a crime
against humanity as defined in any international instrument to which
Uganda is a party;
(b) that person has committed a serious non-political crime outside Uganda
prior to his or her admission to Uganda as a refugee;
(c) that person has been guilty of acts contrary to the purpose or principles of
the United Nations Organisation or the OAU; or
(d) having more than one nationality, that person has not availed himself or
herself of the protection of the second country of which he or she is a
national and has no valid reason, based on a well founded fear of
persecution or on a reason referred to in section 4(c) of this Act, for not
having availed himself or herself of that second country’s protection.