University of Juba campus - (Photo: UoJ).

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Juba Prof. Dr. Robert Mayom has called on the government to reduce the 1,000 US dollars a year in work permit fees imposed on Sudanese professors teaching at the institution.

Addressing the Annual Inter-Ministerial Summit on Migration Governance in Juba, Prof. Mayom revealed that the university currently employs 89 Sudanese professors and has enrolled 800 Sudanese students.

Mayom highlighted the financial burden of paying $1,000 annually for professor’s visa and urged the government to intervene.

“The government should make sure that when they come to this country, we have regulations which will protect them. We should have regulations which will protect them,” he narrated.

“Now, in my institution, I have about 89 professors who came from Sudan. But I face a challenge. And the challenge is that I pay for their visas $1,000 a year. I think the government should come in and help.”

“Because what they are doing, they are doing it to the nation. I was in Djibouti recently, and the visa to get to Djibouti, for those who are coming to teach in the university, is only $20. Now compare that to $1,000 which we are paying as a nation.”

Meanwhile, the Minister of Labor James Hoth Mai noted that the war in Sudan has led to an influx of skilled professionals, particularly in the medical field, into South Sudan.

Minister Mai, emphasized the positive impact of having these experts in the country.

“As the Ministry of Labor, we are really very much happy that we have a task for protecting our migrant workers. Migrant workers are very important to us.”

“Sometime back, we used to go to Khartoum to seek medical attention, using a lot of money, tickets, accommodation, everything. But sometime it comes also, although it is very bad with Sudan, but it is good with us.”

“The war in Sudan sent actually all the experts in medical field into South Sudan, so you don’t go anywhere again all the qualifications here are here in the Republic of South Sudan.”

Since the outbreak of the Sudan crisis in April 2023, over 905,000 people have crossed into South Sudan, with an additional 337,000 people projected to arrive in 2025, the UN humanitarian agency said.