The Nigeria Immigration Service has advised Nigerians to begin their Nigerian passport renewal process at least 6 months before the expiration date to prevent last-minute rush and prevent problems for them. There are different NIS passport offices in different states of the country. Many Nigerians will usually choose offices in the state they live in while others do not mind travelling to other states for faster processing.
Here is a tweet directly from the official Twitter page of the Nigerian Immigration Service telling Nigerians to avoid the rush.
Avoid the rush.
Time to begin passport renewal process is 6months to the day of passport expiry.
Start early. Shine your eyes and don’t fall into the hands of fraudsters.#NISDeyForYou 🫶 pic.twitter.com/GH4sKpOf1X
— Nigeria Immigration Service (@nigimmigration) April 13, 2023
For the renewal of your passport on the NIS website, here is the process for your Nigerian passport renewal.
For the first page of the Nigerian passport renewal application, You are to fill in your details and those details include:
- Passport Type
- Passport Number
- Processing state
- Booklet Type
- Change Type
- Age
- Processing Office
- Validity
After entering these details, the booklet fee will appear on the screen, then you can press continue
Step 2/page 2 will be for filling in your personal details, which will include:
- Title
- First Name
- Surname
- Middle Name
- Date of Birth
- Place of Birth
- Gender
- Marital Status
- Occupation
- Maiden Name
- NIN
Some of the added instructions on the site include
- The information you will be providing while filling out your form must match the information from your NIN.
- If you are paying later, you can save your application and continue when you are ready to make the demanded payments.
- Ensure that the details provided during your application are verified before you make the necessary payment.
- Ensure to fill in a valid and functioning email address
- While filling out the form, the format for the date of birth should be dd/mm/yyyy.
- Your NIN should be 11 digits
The 3 page contains your contact information which will include your
- address,
- telephone number,
- email address
And the fourth page includes next-of-kin information.
Spoke to a couple of Nigerians to ask them how long their Nigeria passport renewal process took;
5months for mine, dy didn’t even send a msg or mail like they collected those data so as to inform me when it’s available.
No update online also & i’d to visit on d fifth month to struggled & queue all day for it like i knew it’s available.Kingdom of God dt sufferth violence..
— OLUWASEUN_ Gott Sei Dank (@i_am_aoejnr) April 16, 2023
They kept pushing my friend’s capture date for about 2 months, she eventually paid some official that took an interest in “her body”. She capture the next day and collected her passport the following week when she arrived Lagos from a weekend trip.
— Promise B.C (@MayorofUmuahia) April 16, 2023
It took me 6 months after applying . I got introduced to someone else and paid to have it fast tracked and I got it 4 days later after that new payment
— Daniel | Growth Partner for Brands🚀 (@mrtrilllife) April 17, 2023
3months
— B (@versace_water) April 16, 2023
Mine took 3 months.
— Mildred (@Mild_Kerr) April 16, 2023
After application, I was given a date to come for capturing. After that, they’d tell you to come after like 4 weeks for collection. Well, this is Nigeria, I didn’t get a text till like 3 months.
— Mildred (@Mild_Kerr) April 16, 2023
took less than a week for me in bayelsa shaa
— Abu Mai (@MenWhoLived3ce) April 16, 2023
Since November 28 still haven’t gotten it. Very wicked people
— Wolf of Broadstreet (@TheJidelagos) April 16, 2023
They’re waiting for me to come pay na. I went there they said it’s not ready, and the person i did same time have gotten her own after paying 90k
— Wolf of Broadstreet (@TheJidelagos) April 16, 2023
Detailed feedback from Izzy sharing her passport renewal process with us and how long it took.
I registered online, on their site. You’re supposed to pick the place where you want to pick it up and do your capturing. If you’re in Lagos, Ikeja, Ikoyi, or Festac. I picked where I wanted and then I made the payment. You pick how many leaves you want. The payment was 25,000 Naira for the actual passport and there was a 1000 naira charge, I can’t remember what exactly it was for, in total, I paid 26,000 naira.
I picked a date. You have to pick your available date, the most convenient date for you. I registered sometime on October 26th and I was able to get December 1st you also have to pick a time. I picked 12 noon or 2 pm or something but from my connect that is there, they said “Just go early so that you are able to do whatever you need to do and get out” I obviously had someone there but I wanted to do it by myself because I didn’t want any mistakes and I have people who have had to travel all the way to Abuja because of mistakes that were made.
I went there, I didn’t have to wait long as I said, I had someone there. I just did what U had to do and submitted the papers that I was asked to bring because you need your NIN, so if you don’t have your NIN, you have to sort that out first. There is a NIN place there though I don’t know if they do it for people who don’t already have you should have your NIN. I got there and submitted the documents that were asked of me. I eventually had to wait a bit because their network is forever down and then I got to where I had to capture.
I had someone there but I still had to tip a few people to not sit there because I really didn’t want to spend more than two hours there and I didn’t. I did my capturing. You can’t wear earrings for some reason and I don’t think It was like that before because the last time I remember doing my passport, I wore my earrings, I didn’t have any issues with that but apparently now, you have to take out your earrings. Did the capturing, but had to wait a little bit. There is this entire process after capturing, you are supposed to wait to sign something, I went back to my house after that.
They said it would take 4 to 6 weeks, so instead of paying someone to hasten the process, I decided to be patient since it’s 4 to 6 weeks.
I had already calculated that since I captured December 5th, by the end of January, or the beginning of February, it should be out. I waited and waited and waited. Eventually March, I sent a message to my person and they sorted it out for me. I eventually went to pick it up 2 or 3 days after I made the call.
They will still waste your time, there are people who have been waiting and waiting for months, for over a year. In fact, if you search on Twitter for “passport issues” you’ll be frustrated on their behalf. It takes a ridiculously long time, meanwhile, you are being told there that it will take 4 to 6 weeks. At one point, I was following up on their sire, I thought “Oh Nigeria is finally advanced and they have sense”
Sometimes you’ll go there and all the progress that has been made will not reflect on the website. I picked it up and based on the calculations on the site, it has still not been produced. You can imagine these people, they are just not serious.