Uganda passenger data, API and PNR

What API and PNR are

Advance Passenger Information is the identity and flight data airlines send to border agencies before a flight arrives. Passenger Name Record data is the booking record airlines hold. The UN Office of Counter-Terrorism says its Countering Terrorist Travel Programme works on API and PNR under Security Council resolutions 2178 (2014), 2396 (2017) and 2482 (2019) ². The programme says it works with 91 member states ². Its page does not list Uganda ².

Where Uganda stands

The AFI SECFAL Plan Secretariat presented at the AFI Aviation Week symposium in Libreville on 18 July 2024. Its slides listed Uganda among 19 African states developing a legal basis for API, or expecting to do so soon ¹. Uganda was not among the 10 states listed as developing a PNR legal basis ¹. The presentation did not give a date for an API system in Uganda ¹.

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority hosted ICAO Traveller Identification Programme (TRIP) strategy training in Kampala from 18 to 22 August 2025 for 100 officials from immigration, aviation, customs and law enforcement ⁸. The UCAA article on the training does not mention API or PNR ⁸.

A US Federal Aviation Administration country page verified on 22 October 2014 described paper manifests for general aviation, with six copies for customs and one for the civil aviation authority ⁷. That page is old and may not reflect current practice ⁷.

Data the immigration system holds

Thales, which supplied the e-visa system, says it built a central traveller database secured by an automatic fingerprint identification system and linked to a control list from local and international sources, with alerts for undesirable applicants ⁴.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs said on 26 April 2021 that the e-Immigration System was integrated with the Uganda Revenue Authority, the National Identification and Registration Authority and the National Social Security Fund ⁵. It said legal and inspection teams get real-time notices of expired visas, work permits and passes ⁵.

Health declarations in 2026

The Embassy of Italy in Kampala reported on 1 June 2026 that the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority made traveller tracking mandatory on arrival and departure at Entebbe, linked to the Ebola outbreak ⁶. Travellers register at poes.health.go.ug no later than 6 hours before travel and receive a QR code ⁶. The embassy notice does not say whether airline API or PNR data is used ⁶.

What the data law says

• Personal data must be collected fairly and lawfully and must not be excessive (section 3) ³.
• No person may collect or process personal data without prior consent, with exceptions such as processing required by law (section 7) ³.
• Health status is special personal data with stricter rules (section 9) ³.
• Data processed or stored outside Uganda needs equivalent protection in the other country or the data subject's consent (section 19) ³.
• Controllers must take technical and organisational security measures and report breaches to the Authority (sections 20 and 23) ³.
• The Personal Data Protection Office sits under the National Information Technology Authority Uganda (section 4) ³.