Vikin:

Hey Folks,

I need help. How can one get two (Nigerian) passport.

I currently have one but want another due to limitation am having(I work in Ghana), and its difficult to apply for visa when am back home because it takes almost 1month to get my passport out.

I heard its a criminal offence to have two passport (How authentic is this info). Is it possible to get an official letter from my employer due to the nature of my job.

Vikin:

@Justwise,

Thats limited, my colleagues at the office have two passports from same country of origin(An english and south african) with different passport nos,  I wonder why it should be a criminal offence in Nigeria to do that.

It shows we are limited in our immigration policy.

And applying for Visa takes ages for them to give you back your passport, not that they will even take a photocopy of it to work with it.

Really frustrating

Thanks alot for the information.

justwise:

I don't think its legal to have two active passports in SA only of you are a diplomat where you are allowed to have the 'red' passport and the standard passport.
Your colleague could be committing criminal offence.

Kenny_G:

Nothing illegal about having two "active" passports, I work with people who have 2 EU passports; one is held at the office to ease visa applications for urgent business trips and the other one they use for ID & other travelling. Not sure if this applies to naija passport sha,

Vikin:

He just confirmed having it and not an offence because he got a letter from our employer, which he used to submit to the Government to clearify his intentions for having two.

Which is what i think of doing, but looks like my government won't give a S***T about this request.

I can as well try and see how it goes,

Kenny_G:

Nothing illegal about having two "active" passports, I work with people who have 2 EU passports; one is held at the office to ease visa applications for urgent business trips and the other one they use for ID & other travelling. Not sure if this applies to naija passport sha,

justwise:

Having two active passports could be linked to the nature of your job and that has to be part of govt policy regarding the type of job you do. I don't think its for everybody.

Vikin:

Thats where i come in, I get a letter from my employer, stating the nature of my job, similar to what KennyG described above, then see how it would be handled.

Its just that i want to be very sure before going into this, I wouldn't want a situation some immigration personal collects money from me to get a passport only for me to get involved with a funny "crime".

Vicjustice:

It's ok to have 2 passports belonging to 2 different countries as a dual citizen of both countries, but it is illegal to have 2 valid passport belonging to one country. One passport has to be cancelled for the other one to be valid otherwise, there is a violation somewhere, and it is your responsibility to declare to the authority if there is an error resulting in your holding 2 passports from one country: .

Vikin:

Thats where i come in,  I get  a letter from my employer, stating the nature of my job, similar to what KennyG described above, then see how it would be handled.

Its just that i want to be very sure before going into this, I wouldn't want a situation some immigration personal collects money from me to get a passport only for me to get involved with a funny "crime".

Vicjustice:

  There is no nature of job that would require a person to have double valid passport because, this is an immigration offence in the first place.
  There is only one internationally acceptable case of being able to have clone national passports. The only case is if you regularly travel to Israel and to countries that do not recognize isreal. You may apply for your country to give you a passport to travel to isreal and then you use the other one for the other countries, that way they dont know you have been to isreal and cant kick you out of that country. But besides that it is very impossible, and if you use the passport other than for this very purpose, you would be prosecuted. So, it is illegal to have 2 passport belonging to one country.

Kenny_G:

I disagree, I know a few people who hold 2 EU passport at the same time

justwise:

They can have two but its illegal, is that simple.

Kenny_G:

I disagree, I know a few people who hold 2 EU passport at the same time

Kenny_G:

How is it illegal? When the 2 passports were issued by the home office?

justwise:

Home Office will not issue two active passports to 'ordinary' citizen. If you doubt me provide HomeOffice link where that is stated.

Kenny_G:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/passports1/passports-a-to-z/s-topics/second-passport

Vikin:

Something is not clear somewhere here,

@VIjustise, Its oilfield operation where you travel around the world for oil service contract.

These people all have Valid international passports, both passport from the same country but different passport no.
and they travel most times with them, but when they require a visa, they submit one, then use the other to work in another country. They do not and never had problem with that.

Varified from Norway citizen.
Varified from EU citizen.(UK to be precise),
Varified from SA citizen.

So, the question, is it possible to get that exception from my goverment.

Also, My passport is almost full, if i get another passport, will they give me same passport no. or they just cancel the almost full passport. N/B i still have a valid visas in that.

Thanks for all the info