Expired Nigerian Passport — Renewal vs Replacement

The day your Nigerian passport expires, the booklet does not turn into a different document. It simply moves from valid to expired in the eyes of border officers and airlines. The Nigeria Immigration Service handles the resulting re-issue cleanly through the same route as any pre-expiry renewal. The cost is the same, the documents are the same, and the 21-day Service Level Agreement is the same.

There are only two practical questions to answer after expiry. First, do you have urgent travel planned that the re-issue's normal timeline cannot meet — in which case the emergency travel certificate route may apply for return-to-Nigeria journeys. Second, what happens to any live foreign visas in the expired booklet — answered briefly below and in depth at the can I travel with an expired Nigerian passport article.

Both cases route through the same NIS re-issue process. The only difference is timing pressure.

1. 1
   Open the re-issue application on immigration.gov.ngChoose 'Apply for Renewal/Re-issue Passport' and select the renewal route. Use the same biographical details as the expired booklet.
2. 2
   Upload supporting documentsSame package as any re-issue: NIN slip, NPC birth certificate, local government letter, photographs, and the data page of the expired passport.
3. 3
   Pay the standard re-issue feeInside Nigeria: ₦100,000 for the 32-page 5-year or ₦200,000 for the 64-page 10-year. Diaspora: NIS USD anchor plus mission admin fee.
4. 4
   Book the biometric appointmentPick a date that gives you time to recover any documents stored at home. The centre is locked at payment; you cannot switch later.
5. 5
   Attend with the expired passportBring the expired booklet and originals of every supporting document. Officers cancel the expired passport during the appointment or at collection.
6. 6
   Collect the new passport21 days from enrolment under the NIS SLA. The cancelled expired booklet is usually returned to you alongside the new one, particularly if it contains live visas.

The 21-day SLA from biometric enrolment to a finished booklet is faster than the 42-day fresh-application SLA, but it is still three weeks. Two scenarios where that wait is too long:

• Urgent return to Nigeria from abroad on an expired passport. NIS has publicly directed international airlines to accept Nigerian citizens with expired Nigerian passports for inbound flights. Practice varies by carrier; phone the airline before you go to the airport. If the carrier refuses, apply for a Nigerian Temporary Passport at your nearest mission. See emergency travel certificate.
• Urgent outbound travel from Nigeria. No equivalent escape route applies. You cannot board international flights leaving Nigeria with an expired passport regardless of the NIS inbound directive. Apply for re-issue and adjust the travel.

For non-urgent cases, the 21-day wait is shorter than most visa appointments and shorter than the typical airline reschedule lead time. Treat it as planning data rather than an obstacle.

A visa is a stamp or sticker in the booklet that holds it, not a separate record. Expiry of the passport does not automatically cancel the visa, but it does separate the visa from your current valid travel document.

Most major destination countries — including the US, UK, Schengen states, Canada, and Australia — allow you to travel carrying both passports: the new Nigerian passport for entry stamps and the expired (cancelled) Nigerian passport for the visa. The Consulate General of Nigeria in New York confirms the analogous case for travel to Nigeria.

Two conditions:

• The visa itself must still be within its own validity period. Expiry of the passport does not affect the visa's expiry date.
• Your name and biographical details on both passports must match. If the re-issue is also a change of name, the visa may not transfer; apply for a fresh visa with the issuing embassy.

If you discarded the old booklet at re-issue (some centres still ask for it), you may need to apply for replacement visas with the issuing embassies, providing the cancelled-passport reference where you can.

A new passport number on a fresh booklet means a few downstream updates.

• Notify visa-holding embassies. Most accept the new passport alongside the old one without formal updates, but a few (especially US and UK) appreciate a written notification.
• Update your airline frequent-flyer profile. Boarding passes match against the passport number, and a flagged mismatch sometimes triggers a manual check at the gate.
• Update bank KYC. Most Nigerian banks accept the new passport without re-doing the full KYC, but the passport number in the bank record should be the new one.
• Update employer records. HR files often reference the passport number for international hires; provide the new one before any planned travel.