How to Reschedule a Nigerian Passport Appointment

A reschedule is a small surgical change to the application. Almost everything stays the same. The application number, the reference number, your Remita Retrieval Reference, the chosen processing centre, the supporting documents, and most importantly the payment all carry forward unchanged. Only the appointment date and the printed appointment slip update.

This matters because it means rescheduling is a low-stakes operation. You are not restarting the file, you are not paying anything new (inside Nigeria), and you are not losing your place in the NIS production queue. The 21-day re-issue Service Level Agreement and the 42-day fresh-application SLA both run from the new biometric date, not the old one. The only meaningful cost is time elapsed against your 12 months from date of payment payment validity.

Most NIS centres lock the rescheduling option until the original appointment date has passed. This is by design, not a bug — the portal treats the original slot as committed until it lapses.

Two implications:

• You cannot reschedule pre-emptively through the portal. If you know two days before that you cannot attend, the portal will not let you move the appointment forward by clicking Reschedule. The option simply is not there.
• The pre-date route is through NIS support. A pre-emptive reschedule requires a support ticket with the application number, reference number, the centre, the booked date, and the reason. Genuine medical or compassionate cases usually receive a same-week response; routine convenience reasons less so.

For diaspora applicants, mission policies vary. The Consulate General of Nigeria in New York explicitly accepts email requests to attend on a later date without formal rescheduling. NHC London and most US consulates handle reschedules through the mission's own appointment system. Check your mission's published rules before assuming the central portal applies.

1. 1
   Wait until the original date passesIf you are pre-empting a future miss, see the next section on NIS support. If you have already missed the date, the rescheduling option becomes available after midnight on the missed day.
2. 2
   Log into immigration.gov.ngUse the email address you registered with. Open the application that needs rescheduling.
3. 3
   Find the Reschedule linkIt appears in the same action menu as the original Book Appointment option, but only after the date has lapsed. If it is missing, see the troubleshooting section.
4. 4
   Pick a new date at the same centreThe portal shows the available slots. You cannot change centre as part of the reschedule; that is a separate request.
5. 5
   Confirm and print the new slipPrint and save the PDF. The new slip carries the same application number and reference number, with the updated date.

Three cases call for NIS support rather than the portal alone.

• You need to reschedule before the original date. Medical, work, or family reasons that you know about in advance. Send the documentation with the request.
• The rescheduling link is missing after the date has passed. Sometimes the portal does not surface the option, especially at high-volume centres or when the original appointment was assigned manually. A support ticket can re-enable it.
• You need to change centre as well as date. The portal cannot do this in one step. NIS support has the access to move the file to a different processing centre, where the case is justified.

Use the support form on immigration.gov.ng, include application number and reference number, and state the specific change requested. Responses are typically within a working week.

A reschedule moves the date. It does not move:

• The processing centre. Locked at payment. Changing centre requires NIS support and is granted at discretion.
• The booklet size or validity. 32-page versus 64-page, 5-year versus 10-year — these are set at application. Changing requires a new application.
• The personal details on the form. Name, date of birth, NIN — these are locked once the application is submitted. Mismatches go through the dedicated correction routes; see name mismatch on passport application and date of birth mismatch on passport application.
• The supporting documents you uploaded. They stay attached to the file. Bring the originals to the rescheduled appointment as you would have to the original.

A few practical points after the new appointment slip is in your hand.

• Re-confirm originals. The same supporting documents still apply. Pack the NIN slip, NPC birth certificate, local government letter, guarantor's form, and photographs as you would have for the original appointment.
• Arrive 30 minutes early. Same advice as for any biometric appointment. Centres queue by arrival within the appointment window, not strictly by booked time.
• Bring both the new slip and (if you have it) the original slip. The new slip is the authoritative one, but officers occasionally ask for the history of the appointment.
• Update any internal calendar reminders. Notify your employer if you need leave for the new date. The cost of skipping the second appointment is the same as the first; do not relax just because you have already rescheduled once.