Nigerian mission in Qatar cuts passport wait time for citizens

Federal Government has disclosed that its diaspora passport intervention exercises across the United States of America, Canada and Qatar have collectively enrolled 8,552 applicants, with a similar exercise currently ongoing in the United Kingdom.

According to a statement issued by the Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), DCI Akinsola Akinlabi, the exercises were carried out under the directive of the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, as part of efforts to bring passport services closer to Nigerians in the diaspora.

It added that the interventions were conducted in collaboration with Nigerian diplomatic missions and representatives of Nigerian communities in the affected countries, to ensure a coordinated and responsive service delivery process.

“Furthermore, the exercises aimed to bring passport services closer to Nigerians across various cities, and were conducted in collaboration with Nigerian diplomatic missions and representatives of Nigerian communities in the aforementioned countries, to ensure a coordinated and responsive Service Delivery process. Thousands of Nigerians have benefited from these exercises,” the statement read.

A breakdown released by the Service showed that the exercise in the United States, covering Chicago, Michigan and Milwaukee, ran from September 7 to 15, 2026 and enrolled 535 applicants, while the Canadian leg, which covered Manitoba, Toronto, Saskatoon, Alberta and New Brunswick, held between September 6 and 19, 2026 and recorded the highest turnout among the completed exercises, with 2,257 applicants enrolled.

The Qatar intervention, which covered enrolment between August 9 and 24, 2026, recorded 751 applicants, while the ongoing United Kingdom exercise, covering London and Manchester, had so far enrolled 5,099 applicants as at the time of the statement, bringing the cumulative total across all four countries to 8,552.

The service said the United Kingdom exercise, still in progress, entailed passport production and dispatch being carried out concurrently to ensure the timely delivery of documents to applicants.

The United Kingdom leg of the exercise followed an earlier deployment announced by the NIS, under which a dedicated Passport Intervention Team from its headquarters was sent to the United Kingdom on the directive of Tunji-Ojo to the Comptroller General of Immigration, Kemi Nandap, arriving in the country on August 10, 2026, to work with the Nigerian
High Commission in clearing pending, new and renewal passport applications.

MEANWHILE, the Nigerian Embassy in Qatar has reduced the waiting time for passport renewals and issuance, with newly produced travel documents now being returned to applicants in about two weeks.

The improvement followed the 10-day passport intervention exercise held in Doha from August 11 to 21, 2026, during which embassy officials processed applications from 751 Nigerian nationals.

The applications comprised 441 requests for five-year passports and 310 applications for 10-year passports.

Distribution of the completed passports began on September 18, less than a month after the biometric capture exercise ended, enabling applicants to receive their travel documents significantly earlier than typical diplomatic processing cycles allow.

Nigeria’s Ambassador to Qatar, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, described the development as a major milestone in the mission’s efforts to improve consular services.