Understanding Nigeria Document Legalization for Foreign Citizenship Applications
Expatriates working or doing business in Nigeria may sometimes decide to apply for citizenship naturalization or permanent residency in another country. For example, an Israeli, Indian, Chinese or Lebanese person living in Nigeria may be interested in applying for citizenship or naturalization in a European country such as Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg or the Netherlands.
In other to achieve this, it is often required to apostille (i.e. legalize) certain documents related to their application – such as birth certificate, marriage certificate, and most importantly a police character certificate (which is basically a police report of good conduct showing that a person does not have any criminal record in Nigeria). This can make Nigerian document legalization important for a foreign national who was born, lived or worked in Nigeria and whose new country asks for Nigerian civil or police records.
If your birth certificate was issued in your home country or in any country other than Nigeria, then you may need to legalize the birth certificate in the country where it was issued. As for your marriage certificate (assuming you are seeking joint citizenship or naturalization with your spouse), it is only possible to apostille the marriage certificate if you got married in Nigeria and had the marriage certificate issued by a marriage registry or court in any part of Nigeria.
Whether a Nigerian Police Character Certificate is required depends on the citizenship or permanent-residence authority handling the application. That authority decides the residence threshold, how recent the certificate must be and whether it needs authentication. Where required, the current Nigeria Police starting point is the POSSAP portal. Follow the identity and fingerprint instructions shown for your applicant type rather than assuming that every foreign applicant must use the same NIN or BVN route.
After you obtain this police clearance, you will need to take the document to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Abuja for authentication. For clarity, Nigeria does not issue apostilles because it is not part of the Hague Apostille Convention. Ministry of Foreign Affairs authentication and any later embassy legalization are separate stages, even though applicants sometimes use the terms loosely. We have previously written a detailed guide on the procedure involved for authentication of documents at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After completing the authentication procedure at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the final step will involve taking the document to the embassy of the country where you are applying for citizenship or naturalization . The embassy will legalize the document by putting their official stamp/seal at the back of the document, thus certifying that it can be used to finalize your citizenship application.
There are different procedures for embassy legalization depending on the country in question, so it is important to check with the specific embassy of your destination country to be sure of what is required. For example, if you are processing citizenship application for Portugal and you intend to apostille or legalize your marriage certificate, the Portuguese Embassy in Nigeria requires a pre-legalization procedure they call ‘confirmation of marriage’, which is performed by their nominated consultants.
You will submit the marriage certificate to the nominated consultant (a specific law firm mandated by the embassy for that purpose only), pay them processing fees of approximately N90.000, and then wait for about three weeks for them to confirm the validity of your marriage certificate. After this rather lengthy confirmation process, you will then be able to continue with the actual legalization of the marriage certificate by the Portuguese Embassy.
Similarly, if you are processing a citizenship application for Belgium in which you need to legalize your birth certificate, the Belgian Embassy as part of their legalization requirements demands that you need to perform a pre-legalization procedure known as confirmation of birth certificate, done by the National Population Commission of Nigeria (NPC) This generally takes about a week, after which the NPC will issue you a confirmation document which you will present along with your birth certificate to the Belgian Embassy. Of course all of these processes are always after the first and most important step of authenticating the document at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Before proceeding with your application, you need to fully understand the processes for Nigeria Document Legalization for Foreign Citizenship Applications. To summarize this guide, below are answers to some of the most common questions expatriates in Nigeria ask when preparing documents for citizenship or naturalization in countries such as Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, or the Netherlands.
1. Why do expatriates in Nigeria need to legalize their documents for citizenship or naturalization abroad?
Foreign nationals born in Nigeria (but now living abroad) or who previously/currently living or doing business in Nigeria, such as Israelis, Indians, Chinese, or Lebanese residents, often need to legalize certain Nigerian documents when applying for citizenship or permanent residency in another country. Legalization (also known as apostille or attestation) ensures that their Nigerian-issued documents are officially recognized by foreign authorities.
2. Which Nigerian documents are usually required for legalization?
Commonly, applicants must legalize the following Nigerian documents:
Birth Certificate (if issued in Nigeria)
Marriage Certificate (if the marriage took place and was registered in Nigeria)
Police Character Certificate (which confirms that the applicant has no criminal record in Nigeria).
3. How can an expatriate obtain a Police Character Certificate in Nigeria?
You must apply for the Police Character Certificate through the Nigerian Police Specialized Services Automation Project (POSSAP) Portal. During the process, the police will request your fingerprints, passport photograph, and NIN or BVN. Once your record is verified, you will be issued the digital police clearance.
4. How can I obtain a Birth Certificate From Nigeria if I am a foreigner living abroad who was born in Nigeria?
If you are a foreigner who was born in Nigeria (perhaps because your father was an expat working in Nigeria at the time), you may have the old Nigerian birth certificate issued by the local or state government, or even the hospital birth record where you were born. Unfortunately this is often never sufficient for immigration/residency/naturalization purposes. You will need to obtain an official birth certificate from the Nigerian National Population Commission. This ‘birth certificate’ is actually known officially as Birth Attestation Certificate, and it is what you need for your Foreign Citizenship Application.
5. What is the process for authenticating and legalizing Nigerian documents?
After obtaining your required document(s):
1. Submit them to Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in Abuja for authentication.
2. Take the authenticated document to the embassy of the country where you are applying for citizenship or naturalization.
The embassy will then legalize the document by placing its official stamp or seal on it, certifying that it can be used for your foreign application.
6. Do all embassies follow the same legalization procedure or have same requirements?
No. Each embassy has its own specific requirements and steps with regard to Nigeria document legalization for foreign citizenship applications. It is important to confirm with the embassy of your destination country to understand their particular process and additional requirements before proceeding.
Need Help? Reach Out to Us
These procedures relating to apostille, authentication, legalization and confirmation are understandably confusing and tiresome for any hard working expatriate in Nigeria who would rather focus on their core job or business than waste valuable time navigating through this bureaucratic nightmare. That is why Antarch Consulting exists – to take away the stress by helping you handle these processes quickly, efficiently and reliably.
If you need expert assistance for any aspect of your Nigeria document legalization for foreign citizenship application, including guidance for your police character certificate or birth certificate and other related documents, authenticating any of these documents, and legalizing the documents at the embassy where required, do feel free to reach us via email, WhatsApp, or phone: Contact Us.