Nigerian Passports in Qatar Now Take About Two Weeks, Embassy Says
Nigeria · Living Abroad
Key Facts
- The country — Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country, with more than 200 million people and one of the continent’s largest economies. Millions of its citizens work abroad, many of them in the Gulf.
- Why a passport matters — In Qatar the passport is more than a travel document. Residence permits, and therefore jobs, depend on it; in 2022 Nigerians there reported losing work over delays.
- What changed — Nigeria’s embassy in Doha was once short of passport machines. It now runs capture drives, recording the fingerprints and photographs Nigeria uses to produce the booklet.
- What happened — On Friday 18 September 2026 the embassy began handing out new passports to Nigerians who had applied during a special drive in August.
- The numbers — The drive ran from 11 to 21 August 2026 and attended to 751 people: 441 five-year and 310 ten-year applicants. Ambassador Mahmood Yakubu, a former head of Nigeria’s election commission, says booklets now return about two weeks after capture.
- What it means for you — Nigeria charges applicants abroad US$150 for a five-year passport and US$230 for a ten-year one. If you need one in Qatar, watch for the embassy’s capture drives.
- Still open — Handouts began four weeks after the August drive closed. No standing processing target for routine applications has been made public.
Nigeria’s embassy in Doha, once short of passport machines, says it now offers a far faster service. The embassy has begun handing out passports from an August drive that took applications from 751 Nigerians.
Nigeria’s embassy in Doha says Nigerian passports in Qatar from its August drive came back in about two weeks. It began handing them out on Friday 18 September 2026.
They went to citizens who gave their fingerprints and photographs during a special capture drive in August. Ambassador Mahmood Yakubu called it “a significant milestone for our Embassy and, most importantly, for Nigerians living in Qatar.”
For the Nigerians who live and work in the Gulf state, the passport is more than a travel document. Qatari residence permits, and therefore jobs, depend on it.
What the embassy did in August
The embassy ran what it called a Passport Intervention Exercise from Tuesday 11 August to Friday 21 August 2026. Staff attended to 751 Nigerian nationals over those days.
Of those, 441 applied for five-year passports and 310 for ten-year passports, according to The Peninsula, a Doha daily. The Nigerian dailies ThisDay and P.M. News reported the same figures.
The Peninsula reported that the drive was organised to meet growing demand for passport renewals and first issuance. Capture means recording the applicant’s biometric data, which Nigeria then uses to produce the booklet.
How fast is two weeks
Yakubu spoke to The Peninsula about the new pace. Passports “are now being completed and returned within about two weeks of capture,” he said.
He said this showed the embassy’s commitment to improving service delivery. The Peninsula’s headline called it a record.
The embassy itself put the start of distribution at less than one month after the drive ended. Distribution began on 18 September, four weeks after the drive closed on 21 August.
No standing processing target for routine applications outside such drives has been made public. The number of the 751 passports collected by 22 September 2026 is not known.
A former election chief in Doha
Yakubu is better known at home for elections than for diplomacy. He chaired the Independent National Electoral Commission, which runs Nigeria’s elections, from 9 November 2015 until 7 October 2025.
President Bola Tinubu later named him ambassador to Qatar, and the Nigerian Senate cleared the appointment. He presented his credentials to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Amir of Qatar, on Thursday 2 July 2026.
The ceremony took place at the Amiri Diwan, the Amir’s office in Doha, according to the Nigerian newspaper Leadership. Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced it in a press release the same week.
Yakubu tied the drive to what a passport means for Nigerians abroad. “We recognise the importance of passports to our citizens, particularly for international travel, employment, residency and other official requirements,” he said.
Why Doha had a passport problem
The quick turnaround stands out because the Doha mission long struggled with passports. In February 2022, Doha News and the Nigerian investigative outlet ICIR reported that the embassy had no passport machines.
Applications then depended on a passport intervention team based in the United Arab Emirates, according to ICIR.
Victor Ikoli had served four years as Qatar branch president of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation, a community group. That month he described the fallout to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the state news agency.
“Over 130 passports were yet to be issued,” Ikoli told NAN, in an interview published by the Lagos newspaper The Nation on 16 February 2022. He said this exposed holders to job termination and deportation if their residence cards were invalid.
In the same NAN interview, later carried by Doha News and ICIR, he described a worker who was dismissed. His company could not renew his residence card because his passport had expired.
Musa Abubakar, then head of consular services at the embassy, gave the official response. He said Doha had been selected as a potential destination for a passport machine, without giving a date.
What Nigerians in Qatar pay
The Nigeria Immigration Service, the federal agency that issues passports, sets fees for citizens abroad in US dollars. A 32-page, five-year passport costs US$150 and a 64-page, ten-year passport costs US$230.
Those diaspora fees stayed the same when the service doubled fees for applicants inside Nigeria on 1 September 2025. The agency announced that increase on 28 August 2025.
What to watch
The test for the embassy is whether the pace holds for routine renewals once the August batch is cleared. “We will continue to work to ensure that Nigerians receive the services they need in a timely and transparent manner,” Yakubu said.
For Nigerian passports in Qatar, the next signal will be whether the embassy schedules another capture drive. No further capture drive had been reported by 22 September 2026.
More: Africa coverage, every day from The Rio Times.
How long does a Nigerian passport take at the embassy in Doha now?
Ambassador Mahmood Yakubu says Nigerian passports in Qatar from the August 2026 drive were returned within about two weeks of capture. Distribution began on 18 September 2026, four weeks after the capture window closed on 21 August. No standing processing target for routine applications has been made public.
How many people were covered by the August drive?
The embassy attended to 751 Nigerians between 11 and 21 August 2026. Of those, 441 applied for five-year passports and 310 for ten-year passports.
How much does a Nigerian passport cost for someone living abroad?
The Nigeria Immigration Service charges applicants abroad US$150 for a 32-page, five-year passport and US$230 for a 64-page, ten-year passport. Those fees did not change when fees inside Nigeria rose on 1 September 2025.
Who is Nigeria’s ambassador to Qatar?
Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who chaired Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission from November 2015 to October 2025. He presented his credentials to the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on 2 July 2026.
Sources: The Peninsula on the passport exercise and the ambassador’s comments, ThisDay on the Doha turnaround, P.M. News on the distribution date, Leadership on Yakubu’s credentials, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release, The Nation on the NAN interview with Victor Ikoli, ICIR on the 2022 backlog, Doha News on the missing passport machines, Nigeria Immigration Service on passport fees, Channels Television on the change at the electoral commission
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This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief