Monday, April 25, 2011

Nigerian E-passport





For those Nigerians who are not aware, all previous passports will be obsolete as from the end of this month and to travel or identify yourself as a citizen, you will need the new government issue passport.

I had to go to New York to apply for the passport even though I live in Washington DC where our consulate occupies prime land on Embassy row...but that is a story for another day. In any case, upon the request of a colleague, I am posting the steps I took to get the passport. For US only.

1. Visit http://www.immigration.gov.ng/


2. Click on APPLY ONLINE. It is at the top of the page.

The link will redirect you to https://portal.immigration.gov.ng/


3. Click on E-PASSPORT APPLICATION FORM. It is on the second block of information under the heading PASSPORT


4. The link will take you to a page "Apply for New passport"

Select "Standard e-passport" from the drop down menu and then the "issuing country" from the drop down menu, which in this case, I am going to assume is the US


5. You will be taken to another site, where you will be asked if you want to log in using google.

I did and then I logged in and filled the necessary information on the form


6. After you fill the form, you will be told that you cannot pay for the passport online. You will however be given a reference number and customer ID. You will then go purchase a $65 money order (unless the price changes) and mail it to:


SW GLobal LLC

US50 Albany TurnpikeCanton, CT 06019

Your confirmation page upon the first leg of completing the document will tell you what information to include in the money order.


7. No, there is no number to call them. There is an email on the site. And only God knows who won that contract.


8. Send your money order through registered mail.


9. The money order goes to Connecticut and someone there processes the payment and you receive a confirmation email.

NOTE: your appointment date at the embassy will be included in the email somewhere.


10. then you show up the day of your appointment, pray before going so that you are at your most gracious and patient.

Take with you: a) a $20.00 money order addressed to the "Consulate of Nigeria"

b) your old passport

c) the printed page of your receipt confirmation

d) the printed page of your appointment confirmation


11. At the embassy, even if you get there early, passport processing begins at 10 am prompt. The lady who handles this is very efficient at starting at exactly 10 am .


12. Have fun and see you around somewhere representing the Eagles.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

very very handy post

bArOquE said...

Now i can exhale, as i read i half expected something to have gone wrong...thank God...This is very good info...however, in how many days later do you get the new passport delivered, after having to travel to NY from Washington?

Ms. Catwalq said...

@Baroque: alot went wrong. It took me about three and a half weeks to get my passport and that included phone stalking etc, contacting the DC coonsulate, re-connecting with an old classmate whom I had not spoken with in years because she might know someone in the embassy and finally, prayer!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post.
This is a ridiculous and lousy way of handling an application. You are lucky inn the US, we in the UK are almost stranded here.

Unknown said...

what a issue,can u imagine some people here in the uk say they wait upto six month after applying to get a passport not even visa, madness init?