Intervention team faciliate e-passport for Nigerians in Qatar

Nigerian expatriates in dire need of new passport in Qatar will enjoy the services of the Nigerian Immigration Service passport intervention team that arrived Doha, the Qatari capital on Thursday.

The intervention team from the Nigerian Embassy in the United Arab Emirates will collect data and take thumb prints from Nigerians interested in renewing their expired passport or those seeking issuance of new passports for new newborns.

The four-day exercise that started on Friday will take place at the Embassy of Nigeria in Qatar.

Before now, Nigerians in Qatar faced challenges in this regard in the absence of e-passport machine from the embassy in Qatar.

Interested applicants can visit the Nigerian Immigration website to complete the application online.
Apart from the payment online, a processing fee of QR240 is required. 

Nigerians in Qatar cry for their passports

--> About 400 Nigerians residents in Qatar are in dire need of their passports that is yet to be delivered since the passport intervention team of the Nigerian Immigration Service took their details and data in September 2013.

The arrival of the NIS was received with applause as some Nigerians especially kids haven't gotten the passport. What was celebrated as a sign of good things to come has now turned into a nightmare and regret for those that applied for the passport.

In October, the NIS produced about 93 passports mostly for new born babies and children. The bulk of the passports are yet to be delivered to the applicants. Consequently it has truncated the holiday plans of so many who intended traveling home or elsewhere. For some it has affected their job, because they can't renew their resident permit. Of significance is a man whose wife has threatened to walk away from their Holy Matrimony if the husband doesn't return home on 31 December.
Efforts have been made to reach the Immigration office in Abuja and it is the same story that their technical partners are the ones delaying the production. Even the Nigerian Embassy in Qatar are helpless as are not sure giving a realistic date to Nigerians.

"Please I am sick of this situation, what have I done wrong to Nigeria Immigration to hold my passport since September," says Samson Olakunle.

"I need to renew my license and am stuck here, my family has been waiting for me to travel home but I cannot. I have called the embassy and nobody is answering my call, please help me," says another Nigerian Frank.
This is a clarion call to the authorities in charge to please be considerate and save the situation. Apart from paying over 20,000 Naira for the service, it is unfair and unjust to make Nigerians go through this pains abroad.

Visa policies and western hypocrisy

In the past two months, three different embassies have refused me visas. Not because I broke any rules or had no "means of livelihood" but because I refused to submit my passport for two weeks at their embassies. The first and third were the embassies of Belgium and Austria in DC; and third was the embassy of Portugal in Abuja. The three trips were all expense paid. Tickets were already bought and hotels reserved by well-established and respected sponsoring institutions. On my own side, I have a fairly impressive travelling record, clearly visible in my three passport booklets. But that matters little as far as those passports are green; the embassies called it a bluff and denied me visas.

The most painful of all is the trip I wanted to make to Portugal. I was invited for the African Development Bank (AfDB) annual meetings and had pre-purchased my ticket before the visa application and also indicated the importance of my visit in the invitation. The visa officer at the embassy of Portugal in Abuja would not hear any explanation. She simply said that she could not attend to any application even when I had more than a week to the event and dropped the phone on me. The AfDB country office in Nigeria intervened and issued me a note verbal. The visa officer was not moved and prevented me from attending the meeting.

Another interesting one happened in Washington DC. It was a trip to Austria. Initially, the officer was cheerful and receptive but as soon as she spotted my green passport, her countenance changed. She later hoodwinked me into paying my non-refundable visa fees only to tell me five days later that I should reschedule my trip. In all the three cases I lost at least $300 each on visa fees, health insurance and transport logistics. From what happened to me, I began to imagine what my compatriots in Nigeria go through to get visas.

I suspect that some of the toughest visa policies in the world exist in Nigeria and for Nigerians. If you visit some embassies in Lagos and Abuja, you will weep at the experience of applicants. They put out a telephone number that is either not working or perpetually busy. When you manage to get through to them, they will be extremely impolite to you. If you have to wait to go in, you will endure the scorching sun or showers of rain as if your life depends on it. Whether you are a governor, senator or minister, you are subjected to the same dehumanizing conditions. After several complaints, some embassies started using vendors to handle the administrative side of the applications. That was only a partial solution. A friend of mine confided in me that he was asked to pay N50,000 for a visa appointment only last week.

Concerned embassy officials should not sit in mute indifference amidst this mindless extortion. These days we hear that as soon the quota is exhausted for the day, no visa officer will screen your application. They will simply pocket your money with the phrase "sorry, we cannot give you a visa at this time". Visa denial costs an applicant sometimes up to $500. Many applicants pay transport, accommodation, visa fees and purchase appointments, only to receive that rehearsed apology. And the story ends there.

I agree that many visa applicants break the rules in Nigeria, in desperation or ignorance. But there are many others who are qualified but whose applications are refused. Many top government functionaries queue in person whenever they need to apply for a visa, even with a note verbal. This is unacceptable and can only happen in Nigeria. Countries like Chad, Gabon and Niger even receive better treatment than Nigerians when it comes to visa issuance. In contrast, many of these foreign embassies in Nigeria raise millions of dollars every year from non-refundable visa fees. Some of the revenue is used to subsidize their embassies.

I am interested in the debate that will put the flow of the so called development aid inflow into Nigeria side by side the amount of money that is raised from visa fees. The visa policies in Nigeria and on Nigerians need further review. We are a country of more than 150 million people with a growing middle class. All those who stand as friends and partners of Nigeria cannot stare helplessly at discriminatory visa policies. Those Nigerians who have genuine travel intentions must be allowed to have a visa without much ado. Some advice that it is time for Nigerian missions abroad to begin to retaliate.

The hassle of international travel now means that many people undertake it only when they have to. Stress free visa application process and less discriminatory visa regime should be permissible in a globalized world that preaches equality. It is not too much to ask for.

Uche Igwe wrote from Africa Program Johns Hopkins University Washington DC via ucheigwe@gmail.com

Over 300 Nigerian expats register for e-passport

DOHA OVER 300 Nigerian expatriates in Qatar registered to get their old machine-readable passports (MRP) replaced with new chip-based e-passports during the three-day exercise, which concluded at Al Aseef hotel on Sunday.
President of Nigeria in Diaspora, Qatar (NIDO), OJ Millar said that the turnout surpassed expectations.

“We had expected around 130 persons coming for the registration because only 100 people had initially shown interest before the officials from Nigeria came for the exercise.

The response on the first day made us readjust our plans in order to attend to all the applicants,” Millar said.

Those who could not register for e-passport in Doha would have to do it in Nigeria before December 31, the deadline set by the government, he said.

A team of officials from the Nigerian embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Nigeria Immigration Service from Abuja came to Doha to conduct the exercise in collaboration with NIDO, a community association of Nigerians in Qatar.

The team was led by Ken Okeh, minister/head of chancellery at the Nigerian embassy in the UAE.

Madara Wakili, financial attaché at the embassy, and Yankasai Abdul, Habibu Almu and Olowooye Oluwagbayi from the Nigeria Immigration Service headquarters in Abuja were the other members of the team.

The officials said the data collected during the exercise would be processed in Abuja after which e-passport would be issued to the applicants.

It would take three weeks for the e-passports to be brought to Doha for distribution, the officials said, adding that Qatar was the second country in the Middle East after the UAE where Nigerians got the opportunity of registering them for e-passport outside the country.

Millar said the preference given to Nigerian expats in Qatar for e-passport registration proved the importance of Qatar for the Nigerian government.

He hoped that both Qatar and the UAE would also be the first to get permanent machines for the processing and issuance of e-passport in the region.

Meanwhile, commenting on the exercise, Dr Sammani Abdullahi, a lecturer at Qatar University, said: “I am highly impressed by the level of coordination for the whole exercise.

I also observed that the officials came with the forms we filled earlier which showed that the forms were forwarded to Abuja for attention.

If they had not rendered this service to us in Doha, I would have had to travel to Nigeria with all my family members to register and get e-passport.” He thanked Nigerian Ambassador to the UAE and Qatar, HE Alhaji Bashir Yuguda for responding to the call of the community in Qatar.

Another Nigerian expat, Segun Obanoyen said the exercise saved many people the stress and cost of travelling back to Nigeria to meet the deadline.

He thanked the NIDO executives for coordinating with the Nigerian embassy in Abu Dhabi and making the exercise a success.

Itodo Peter, a Vodafone staff, said: “I am happy with the exercise and appreciate all those who contributed to make this programme a reality.”