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Donate yearlyIt is no longer news that the Nigerian Immigration Service has launched a contactless service in various western countries which means you can renew your Nigerian passport from the comfort of your home without going to the office. However, this comes with a charge, in UK the charge is £100 in addition to the passport renewal fee.
To use the contactless service, first head to the NIS website and complete your passport application and upload your documents. You will need your NIN number which you would already have since it is a renewal, you will also need your birth certificate – sworn affidavit is also acceptable. After completing your application and generating your application number and reference number. Then the next step is to complete your biometric using the NIS mobile app.
Download the NIS Mobile app from Google play as this is not yet available on IOS. Create your profile if this is your first time. After creating your profile then login and click on apply and follow on the screen prompt. Complete your biometrics by scanning your fingers, once that is complete it will take you to the payment window where you will complete your payment. It will show you that that your application is 100% complete. It will then tell you to send your expired passport to the high commission.
After it shows you your application is 100% complete, proceed to send your expired passport to the Nigeria High Commission at 9 Northumberland Avenue London WC2N 5BX. Your passport needs to be sent with Royal Mail C4 Special Delivery Envelope. Ensure that along with your passport you add the following items a. Your application form and payment receipt b. £20 postal order c. Self addressed C4 Royal mail Special Delivery Envelope.
How much should you budget for this? The total cost of both the application and the contactless service is $262 which is £195.27 depending on the exchange rate at the time of your renewal. Then the C4 Special Delivery Envelope x2 will cost £19.7 (£9.85 each), plus the £20 postal order gives a total of £234.97. Hence, you should budget E234.97 for the passport renewal.
It is also important to note that it is better to do the renewal closer to the expiry date of your passport as NIS do not do date continuation. This means for example if your passport still has some months validity it won’t be taken into account and your renewal would be backdated to when you made the renewal request. For instance, if your passport is suppose to expire on 20 November 2025 and you renewed in August 2025, instead of your new passport to start from 21 November as a continuation from the previous passport, it will start from August when you renewed it. This means you have wasted over 2 months validity of your previous passport. Hence, it is best to renew it when you have a week or 2 weeks validity remaining in your passport so the new one will have a longer expiry date.
It takes between 9-14 days (not business days) from when you send your passport to receive both the old and new passport back. It is a very fast service and that is why it’s better to do renewal closer to your passport expiration rather than to do it very early and waste your passport validity.