Paying your passport fee does not book your appointment for you. That is a separate step, and it is worth doing as soon as payment clears.
Here is how the booking step actually works, and how to avoid losing time to a fully booked centre.
Booking is separate from applying and paying
Once your online form and payment are done, you move to a different part of the process: reserving an actual date and centre for your biometric capture.
Go to appointments.immigration.gov.ng/availability to do this. This is where an appointment at your chosen passport office for photo and biometric capture gets scheduled.
Choosing a centre
The availability portal asks you to pick a country, then shows the earliest open date at each processing centre in that area. 51 centres run nationwide, each with its own calendar.
Lagos and the FCT have several centres each, so if your closest one shows a distant date, it is worth checking a nearby alternative before settling for the first slot you see.
Reading the calendar correctly
Earliest available dates shift daily, depending on how many people have already booked. A centre that looked full last week might open up new slots this week, and the reverse is just as true.
Don't assume the first date you saw days ago is still accurate. Check again close to when you actually plan to book, since screenshots and forum posts about "available dates" go stale within days.
Deciding between a nearer date and a nearer office
Two things pull against each other here: how soon a centre can see you, and how far you have to travel to get there. A centre two states away might show an earlier date, but travel adds its own cost and time.
For most people, the nearest centre with a reasonable wait beats a distant one with a slightly earlier slot. Weigh the actual travel time honestly before you book somewhere unfamiliar.
What the appointment covers
The visit itself is for an appointment at your chosen passport office for photo and biometric capture. Nothing about the appointment slot changes your booklet choice or your payment, both of which are already locked in by this stage.
Office hours run Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm, so plan your visit within that window.
After you book
Keep your appointment confirmation alongside your payment slip. You will need both when you arrive, together with the rest of your document checklist.
Arrive with time to spare rather than right at your slot. Offices work through a queue within their opening hours, and a late arrival can mean waiting for the next available opening on the same day, if one exists at all.
If your plans change, our guide on rescheduling a missed appointment covers what to do next, since there is no simple reschedule button on the portal itself.
Once your appointment is booked, a vetted partner firm can still help with the rest of the paperwork for your passport renewal, though only you can attend the biometric capture itself.
Common mistakes when booking
- Waiting weeks after payment to book, then finding every nearby date taken.
- Booking a centre far from home because it showed an earlier date, without weighing the travel time.
- Forgetting that the appointment slip and the payment slip are two different documents to bring along.
Book as soon as you can after paying. Our passport hub links what happens before and after this step.