Every Nigerian has some level of distrust when engaging services provided by public/government agencies and offices, like getting a Nigerian passport. This distrust is not unfounded, it is usually a result of either previous personal experience or tales from other people’s experiences.
Given this background, I shouldn’t have been surprised when a couple of friends expressed shock and portended the process of my self-application process for a Nigerian passport renewal ending in tears and frustrations. My personal experiences also made me a bit wary but knowing that someone had gone before me helped keep me calm. So I decided to share my experience with someone else who may need guidance.
This post is about passport RENEWAL and not for a fresh passport application. I think the process should be similar for a fresh passport but with some minor tweaks.
The self-processing method of my passport application process was a 4-step one.
Total Time Spent
The entire process took about 26 days from the day I filled out an online application to my final pick-up date. Within this period, I spent a cumulative of 3 hours at the passport office for my form submission, data capturing and passport pick up.
- Online Application (30 minutes):
To start your application, you would need to fill a form on the NIS application portal (https://portal.immigration.gov.ng/). There are different options to pick from (fresh, renewal, stolen) so be certain you select the correct form to prevent issues later on. Even though all the forms appear similar, there are some differences. For instance, when filling the renewal form you have to put in your old passport number which is not a requirement for the fresh passport application. Also, the completed form shows what category you are applying for which is not visibly evident while filling the form.
At this stage, you have to ensure that all your details are correct. So take your time to fill in the requirements. Any mistakes on the form would take a long and possible more expensive process to complete. I filled the online form in November 2020 because I thought I would apply then but since I still had a couple of months on my passport I decided to wait.
I made a mistake in filling my passport number on this form and I didn’t realise until I was ready to proceed in January this year. Thankfully, I had not made a payment so I filled a new form and discarded the old one. At this point, I mistakenly filled the fresh application form. Again, I saw the error before I paid so I filled out a third form which I finally used.
It is very important that you check and recheck your details on the form prior to payment because you won’t get a refund on that application. I don’t know how such a mistake can be corrected after payment but I can imagine it’d involve avoidable stress and extra money (which you were possibly trying to avoid by taking the self-processing method). You also have the opportunity to select the passport office you would be visiting to complete the process. I used the Alausa passport office. Filling the form took about 30 mins for me because I wanted to be extra sure about all the details I filled in.
COSTS
The costs listed here are for the ‘self-processing service. There are 3 categories of Nigerian passports – the 32-page with a 5-year validity, 64-page with a 5-year validity, and 64-page with 10-year validity. I paid for the 64-page with 5-year validity and that cost 35,000 naira plus a 500 naira bank change. The 10-year validity passport costs about 70,000 naira. It is also cheaper for children below 17. You can find out more on the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) website.
After filling the form, the next thing is payment for the passport. The payment can be done right on the NIS website after you complete your application. However, you can also delay payment till you are ready. On the drop-down list tagged passport on the portal, you can view your passport application process using your application ID and reference number (gotten after a completed application) and it would bring up your application form. I asked an official if I could use a form I filled over 2 months ago and he said I could. I eventually didn’t use it for the reason stated above.
There are a couple of payment portals on the payment page and you can make use of any of them. They actually looked a bit weird and I was concerned so after generating a payment ID (I used the NetPostPay portal), I decided to pay the cash to the bank as opposed to completing the transaction online. Paying online may have been smooth but I wasn’t sure I wanted to do that. The payment is similar to how the Remita payment works and you are given a print out at the bank. I made my payment the next day.
After I paid, I logged back into the portal and saw an appointment date to visit my selected passport office for the application submission. The date was exactly 7 days after my payment date. I printed and made copies of the payment acknowledgement slip. Payment is valid for 1 year and this is clearly stated on the website. I think 1 year is more than enough time to sort the application.
I have detailed the remaining steps in this post here.
Overall, it was a good experience for me as I wanted to explore using a Nigerian service seamlessly with no ‘fast-tracker’. This was evidence for me that such is possible.
P.S: The detailed process is my personal experience. I have also interacted with others who had a smooth experience with the self-processing option. The ultimate choice is yours to make.
