Ugandan Activist Denied Netherlands Visa, Accuses Embassy of Detaining His Passport

Crispus Mugisha

PHOTO - UN Environment

A Ugandan climate activist has accused the Netherlands embassy of bias and dishonesty in denying him a visa for an event in Holland.

Morris Nyombi, the founder of Earth Volunteers, a non-profit organization into tree planting and climate action claims that he was meant to travel to the Netherlands to attend the International Fundraising Congress where he was due to give a keynote speech.

However, he was out-rightly denied a visa citing lack of "enough ties to Uganda" to ensure his return after the event.

Nyombi says he applied again but the embassy refused to respond to his calls and emails yet the event is fast approaching.

"The embassy of the Netherlands rejected my first visa request because they did not believe I had enough ties to Uganda to ensure my return after the event. They also believed that I would stay in their country because of the current political situation in Uganda," Nyombi narrates.

He says he found their reason only an excuse to deny him a visa since he already had a UK VISA activating on November 4th for an event in London and another for the USA.

"When I contacted the embassy in Kampala, they informed me that they are not the ones who make visa decisions and that all decisions are made in Hague, Netherlands," he said.

He said that the embassy asked him to appeal with their main office in Hague, Netherlands where he shipped the passport and other documents for consideration.

To his surprise, however, the documents and passport were returned to the Kampala embassy to make the decision.

"It has been over 15 working days, and I am still waiting for my passport. I need it to attend the conference next week, but no one is responding to me. This situation is unfair since the embassy is trying to delay my passport and try to deny me a visa without any clear reason," he claims.

Nyombi says that this was the second time applying for this visa, and he did all due diligence.

"It is not fair that we have to spend a lot of money applying for a Schengen visa only to be denied because the consular is not motivated. I have already lost money twice in two different months," he lamented.

He called upon the ambassador of the Netherlands to Uganda to be open and explain "why am not being allowed to go and speak at this conference."

October 11, 2023