Most passport mistakes are just that, mistakes. A smaller set of actions cross into offences the law actually punishes, and the penalty is heavier than most people expect.
Here's what the law covers, and where genuine errors end.
The law behind passport offences
Section 10 of the Immigration Act 2015 is where these offences sit. A neighbouring section of the same Act gives the Comptroller-General of Immigration the power to issue passports at all.
It's worth reading this as one law covering both ends: who can issue a passport, and what happens when someone misuses one.
What counts as an offence
The Act lists several distinct offences: holding more than one valid standard passport, altering a passport, making false statements to obtain one, submitting multiple applications, concealing or failing to report a lost passport, touting near a passport office, and forging passports.
That's a broader list than most people assume. It isn't only about forged documents. Ordinary dishonesty on a form falls under the same section, and so does a second application filed while an earlier one is still live.
The penalty the law sets out
Any of these offences carries 10 years' imprisonment, a ₦2,000,000 fine, or both. That's a serious penalty for what can look, on the surface, like a paperwork issue.
NIS's own guidance on lost passports phrases this as "up to" that prison term and "up to" that fine, rather than a fixed sentence in every case.
Why using a passport reported lost is especially risky
Reporting a passport lost, then continuing to use it if it turns up, is one of the clearer ways to fall into this section. Our documents for a lost passport guide covers the honest route: a police extract and a sworn affidavit for loss of passport from the High Court. Our guide to replacing a lost passport covers the process from start to finish.
Once you've told NIS a passport is lost, treat it as gone. Using it again isn't a grey area under the law.
Where genuine mistakes differ from offences
A typo on a form, a wrong date entered by accident, or an outdated document uploaded in error are not what this section targets. Those get queried and corrected, not prosecuted.
The line sits at intent. A genuine mistake, honestly corrected, is different from a false statement made to get a passport issued.
Common mistakes
- Assuming a lost-passport report has no consequences if the passport is later used.
- Holding onto two valid standard passports without realising that's itself an offence.
- Treating a corrected form error the same as a false statement.
If you're ever unsure whether something you've done crosses this line, a solicitor can advise, separate from any paperwork a vetted partner firm handles for your passport application.