The immigration authorities have banned aliens with an exception to East Africans, from obtaining visas on arrival to South Sudan and warned immediate deportation of those who contravene the ban at entry points, including Juba International Airport.
Lt. Gen John Akot Maluth, the Director General of Nationality and Civil Registry, Passport and Immigration re-announced the ban issued in October 21, 2020 by the Minister of Interior, Paul Mayom Akech last week Thursday.
Akot said the measure aims to avoid criminals and people with unknown diseases to enter South Sudan unnoticed to destabilize the country’s security.
“We have the East African countries like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. They will get visa on arrival at Juba International Airport or at border entry points.
“So, for the countries that have our embassies like Ethiopia, they can get visa from our embassy there. The same applies to Eritrea, we will not allow that because we have our immigration officers in those embassies,” Akot reiterated.
He added “Because of security, we do not want criminals to enter our territory, the sick people, and also to those who enter our territory, do not cause insecurity to the country. We will not allow that.”
The measure, according to Akot exempts diplomats and staff of the United Nations agencies serving in South Sudan.
“This is the new policy we have adopted. So, there is no entry without visa except for those coming from East Africa,” he asserted.
However, there have been reports of malpractices, which Akot said have been carried out by individuals pretending to be immigration officials, issuing fake documents to foreign nationals coming to the country.
He warned the aliens and the citizens to be on alert and desist from paying bribe to acquire fake documents that will ruin their lives, saying few people were already arrested in connection with such malpractices.
“We had a group who used to produce fake nationality and we managed to arrest five. So, you should not pay any bribe. These are fake documents.,” he warned.