The Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, has directed all Passport Issuing Centres to clear existing backlog of applications on or before 31st May, 2021.
The directive was contained in a public notice issued and signed by the Service on Tuesday, 18 May, 2021.
According to the public notice, while notifications for collection of produced passports was already going out to applicants who indicated functional phone numbers in their applications, requests for Fresh and/or Reissue would not be entertained with effect from 18 May to 31 May, 2021 in all Centres except for locations in Missions abroad.
Consequently, a new passport application and processing regime shall commence by 1 June, 2021.
The Immigration Service further listed critical features of the reform to include the following:
Applicants shall visit http://immigration.gov.ng to apply, pay and upload all the required documents for passports.
Applicants shall further book an Interview/appointment after a successful online application.
Furthermore, no applicant will be attended to without having booked an online appointment.
Also, no cash payment shall be entertained at any Issuing Centre.
Passport application processing and issuance shall take a period of six (6) weeks after a successful enrollment.
Requests for reissue can be submitted six (6) months before expiration.
The Service, while it gave assurances that Issuing Centres were working hard to resolve all backlog applications, appealed for more understanding on the part of applicants who have been waiting, promising that they would get their passports soon.
