Good day forumites.

I don't know how much you are willing to pay for someone to help you in processing your internetional passport but i think you N16,500 should be Ok for it. I have a friend that charge upto N20,000, that much by me but sometime i feel what he passes through processing the passport for his client. So in the spirit of giving, i have decided to give out one of my sources of livelihood on the internet which is to teach you how to acquire the new nigerian passport, also known as epassport but i must warn that you are doing it at your own risk, it is easy to do it online but it is hard in acquiring it or the processing of your file in the passport office. I will also advise that you print out this article inorder to be go back to it at your convinient time becos this report is looooong.

Don't be scared,Sometimes, your file get missing in the passport office, so also your money. This is part of what i face on a daily basis processing files for my applicants or clients.
Some other problems you are likely to face are
[list]
[li]No interview date on your receipt slip[/li]
[li]No receipt or confirmation of payment of your file, making you to pay another money[/li]
[li]Misplacement or missing of your file by negligent immigration officers which forces you to copule another file (pay again) if you can't find your file[/li]
[li]Rejection of your guarantor or outright cancellation of your file due to slight mistake on your part while filing the form.[/li]
[li]Long awaiting period for the confirmation of your file[/li]
[li]Porlonged days while trying to resolve a problem in the payment of an applicant with the site managers or their payment gateway processors.[/li]
[li]the list goes on and on [/li]
[/list]

SO LET'S START. If you are ready to take the risk, come with me.
Note you can get this information on their site.
1. Go to any bank branch of sterling bank, uba, zenith, these are the ones i know. then request for the NIgerian Immigration online payment card OR if you have a card that has he ETRANSACT or INTERSWITCH logo on it, then you can use it to make payment because they have two payment gateway. I will recommend the ETRANSACT card because theor online acct enquiry is friendly to use and you can view your account transact history incase their is problem. You get the Card for N9000 from the bank, N8750 is the official charge while N135 is the transaction fee.

2. After getting the Card, Go to a cyber cafe or your internet connected PC or Laptop, make sure your are sitting on a comfortable seat in order not to make a mistake in the filling of the form. type www.portal.immigration.gov.ng on your browser. On opening of the site, Click on "click here" on the second box or middle box with a hand holding a passport. it takes you to another site where you have a drop down box that tells you "Select Passport Type", click on "please select" in the drop down box and two options will appear; "Standard passport" and "Official passport". Select "Standard passport". Select The "Standard passport " option and click "start application"

3. The next step, a biodata form OR an epassport application form will appear on your screen. NOW BE VERY CAREFUL FILLING THE FORM BECOS YOU MIGHT MAKE MISTAKE AND NOT NOTICE IT AND THE MISTAKE MIGHT AFFECT YOUR PASSPORT.

4. After filling the form, right click your mouse, scroll on the menue and click "print"or go to file on the standard toolbar and click "print" or scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "print form". After printing out your form, clilck on the "Submit Application" at the bottom of the page.

5. This takes you to another page called the "Online Application Payment". Here you have your ACKNOWLEDGE form also to be printed out. Scroll down and click on "Print Acknowlegdement Slip", this will open on a different browser, now print out the slip as well. Go back to the "Online Application Payment" and click on "Proceed to Online Payment".

6. This takes you to another page that ask you if you want to pay in Naira or Dollar, Click on the Naira Option and wait for the page to load.

7. The next page that loads asks you which payment gateway you want to use. Depending on the card you have, ETRANSACT or INTERSWITCH, click on the one that is apporpriate to you.

8. Now wait for the page to load, I MUST WARN HERE THAT IF YOUR INTERNET CONNECTION IS SLOW DO NOT MAkE THE PAYMENT, BECOS YOU MIGHT NOT GET THE RECEIPT. Now if the server is fast, continue payment, if it is the interswitch payment card you are using, you will see your name as the applicant that is making the payment, put in your card details and click on pay, wait for sometime as it processes your applicant, sometimes it tells you that your payment has been confirmed while sometime it doesn't so also the etransact payment card. Also sometimes it prompts you to print the receipt directly after making the payment. Now if you can't print out your receipt directly from the page, go to the Homepage, Click on "Query your Application Online". The next page that comes up asks you if you have made payment or not, Click on the "Yes" option and type the Application and Refrence numbers on your "ACKNOWLEGDE SLIP" in the textboxes that are below the YES and NO options. If it gives you your receipt praise the lord, if it does, Welcome to the Club. Probably you will be thinking of making another payment and if it happens to have paid or your card has been debited and you made a second payment on that job, don't think your money will be refunded back to you. The EXPERIENCE IS BITTER.

9. You will need to print out a Guarantor Form with your Application id and refrence number. Scroll to the bottom of the Home page, directly under the middle box, the last link in the list is where the guarantor's form is, click on it and it will take you to the form, put your application id and refrence number in he appropriate boxes and submit. This will bring out another page with your name on top or infront of you. Print out the 1-4 page form atmost.

10, Let assumed you were giving the receipt, now is the time to face another hurdle, copuling the File. You will need the [list]
[li]Your guarantors passport photography[/li]
[li]Photocopy of his own international passport[/li]
[li]Photocopy of either his drivers licence or his national identity card[/li]
[li]If you don't have a birth certificate, get an Affidavit or declaration of age from the law court[/li]
[/list]
If you have these, then proceed. Fill the guarantors form and take it to the Law court for Oathing. After oathing it,it is time to arrange it.

11. Get a file(a blank file with nothing drawn or written on it) and put the first printed page (the biodata page) on the left side of the file, then on the right side, first of all, put the birth certificate or Declaration of Age , the Guarantor's photocopied drivers license or national identity card then the photocopied International passport of the guarantor (i forgot to mention that you photocopy the data side of your guarantor's international passport and his signature must be on the back of his passport photography), then you put the Guarantor's form itself on top of it, then your Acknowledge slip and the Receipt slip. there you have it. Look hard doesn't it. That is part of the stress. but your file is almost complete.

12. On the outside front cover of your file at the top, write NIS/PPT/F/R, then write your surname in full and the other names in abbrievation under on the acronym. Draw two horizontal lines and four vertical lines under your name and write in succession on the boxes that form Date, Folio, Action by, Sign and bank (sorry i almost forgot to tell you that the receipt given to you in the bank as you purchase you card should be kept intact becos you need to stample it in the inside front of your file). and THAT IS ALLL. PRAISE THE LORD SOMEBODY. Or have i lost Somebody. If you are not lost then lets continue

13. Walk down the Passport or Nigerian immigration office at Festac or ikoyi and GET READY TO FACE NIGERIANS THAT ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH WHAT THEY ARE PAID BY THE GOVERNMENT or if you feel you can follow the rule or the line, submit your file, but don't go to bed with your eyes close becos all your hard work can go down the drain when you wait, wait, wait, wait and wait for almost a month for your file to be confirmed and all you get is that your file is missing. SORRY OOO, IT IS ONE OF THOSE THINGS, NOW You have to start all over again.


I have taken the pain to put you through and i hope this information is helpful and insightful. if you need me help, you can contact me on.

Charles Okaformbah

Thanks very much for taking pains to xplain those steps one on one.

Sorrioooo, i made a mistake in the webaddress of the immigration site. Instead of http://portal.immigration.gov.ng i typed www.portal.immigration.gov.ng which will not take you directly to the site. Pardon me.