Renewing a Nigerian passport in the United States
Renewing a Nigerian passport from the United States is the single most searched thing in this whole subject, and the part that trips people up is not the fee or the queue. It is the order of the names.
The consulate in Atlanta writes it in capitals on its own requirements page: the names and date of birth on your application form must appear in the same order as on your birth certificate and your NIN.
A form that says Chukwuemeka Daniel Okafor where the NIN says Daniel Chukwuemeka Okafor is a rejected application, and you find out weeks later.
No passport application moves without a National Identification Number. The NIMC issues it, no consulate does, and it has to match your birth certificate.The application itself starts on the Nigeria Immigration Service portal, passportintl.immigration.gov.ng: the form is filled in and paid for there, and the biometric appointment is booked inside the same portal. The visit to the office is the last step, not the first.
What it costs and how long the booklet lasts
Atlanta publishes the fee table. The other two offices do not publish one, so treat these as the figures to confirm rather than as a national price list.
| Booklet | Validity | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 32 pages | 5 years | $142 |
| 64 pages | 5 years | $162 |
| 64 pages | 10 years, 18 and over only | $242 |
| Lost or stolen | surcharge on top of the above | $370 |
The ten-year booklet is closed to minors. A child gets five years whichever booklet you choose, which is worth knowing before paying the difference.
The surcharge for a lost passport is larger than the passport itself. If your old booklet exists and you can find it, find it: turning up without it means the application is treated as a loss.
What the three offices ask for
The requirements differ by case rather than by office. These are Atlanta's, which is the only Nigerian mission in the country that publishes them in full.
Apply early, and how early
Every page on the Atlanta consulate's website carries the same banner: apply for a renewal up to six months before the passport expires. That is the consulate telling you what its own turnaround looks like without putting a number on it.
Airlines and destination countries add their own rule on top. Many will not board you with less than six months of validity left, so a passport that is technically valid can still stop you at the gate.
Where you actually go
Nigeria has three consular offices in the United States and they are all in the east. Which one handles you depends on your state, not on which is nearest, and the geography pages on this site set out the split.
- Get the NIN first. Nothing proceeds without it
- Put your birth certificate next to the form and copy the names across in that order
- Check the consular days for your office, not just the opening hours
- Keep the old booklet, whatever state it is in
If the passport is already gone and you have a flight, the passport process is not the one you want. An Emergency Travel Certificate is the document for that, and it goes by post.