The Nigeria Immigration Service is dispatching a dedicated Passport Intervention Team to the United Kingdom from August 10, 2026, to process pending applications, enrol new applicants, and handle renewals for Nigerians in the diaspora.

The NIS announced the development on its X page on Sunday.

Interior Minister Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo directed the deployment, instructing Comptroller-General of Immigration Kemi Nandap to send the team from NIS headquarters to work alongside the Nigerian High Commission in London on the exercise.

The intervention is open to applicants with pending passport applications, new applicants, and holders of passports with less than one year remaining before expiry who wish to renew.

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Applicants are required to present completed application forms and proof of payment during enrolment.

What the NIS is saying

The service said the team will visit designated cities across the United Kingdom to conduct passport enrolment and processing, bringing the exercise closer to Nigerians in different parts of the country rather than centralising it in London alone.

  • “The Intervention Team is scheduled to arrive in the United Kingdom on 10th August, 2026, and will work in collaboration with the Nigerian High Commission to facilitate the processing and issuance of pending, new and renewal passport applications,” the statement read.
  • “As part of the exercise, the team will visit designated cities across the United Kingdom to conduct passport enrolment and processing, thereby enabling eligible applicants in different parts of the country to access the exercise,” it added.

The NIS urged applicants not to proceed to any location until the detailed schedule — including designated cities, dates, venues, enrolment times, and other arrangements — has been officially communicated.

  • “Applicants are therefore advised not to proceed to any location until the relevant schedule has been officially communicated and to monitor the official communication channels of the Nigerian High Commission in the United Kingdom for further details,” the statement said.

The NIS confirmed that all its digital passport application channels, including the Contactless Passport Application System, remain fully operational during the intervention exercise, and that the home delivery service also remains available to applicants who prefer that option.

Get up to speed

The recent UK intervention marks a continuation of the Federal Government’s efforts to make passport services more accessible to Nigerians living abroad, building on measures introduced in 2025 to reduce the need for physical visits to passport centres.

  • In April 2025, the NIS launched the second phase of its contactless biometric passport application system in the United States, Jamaica, Mexico and Brazil as part of efforts to make passport renewal easier for Nigerians in the diaspora.
  • The system was launched in the United States on April 11, 2025, followed by Jamaica on April 14, while Mexico and Brazil were also scheduled to implement it around the same period.
  • The contactless application, available through the NIS Mobile application on the Google Play Store, allows eligible Nigerians to renew their passports without visiting a passport centre for biometric enrolment.

The latest UK intervention complements this digital option by deploying NIS personnel to designated cities across the country to handle pending applications, new applications and renewals, while the service’s digital passport channels remain operational.

What you should know

TheNIS recently clarified that passport services had not been suspended in Kano following a directive to migrate two passport production centres in the state to the Central Personalization Centre.

The clarification, issued on August 5, came amid concerns that the migration could disrupt passport processing in Kano and other affected locations.

The NIS said the move was an administrative restructuring of passport production and does not affect passport enrolment or biometric capture, which applicants can still complete at their local passport centres.