More than 500 Nigerians living in Qatar have been left stranded and frustrated after the Nigerian Embassy in Doha collected over N315,000 (750 Qatari Riyals) from each person for passport renewal but failed to deliver the service five months later. The affected nationals, some of whom spoke to SaharaReporters under condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, described the embassy’s conduct as “a big scam” and “official fraud against helpless citizens abroad.”
One of the affected Nigerians recounted how the embassy, after years of failing to provide passport renewal services in Qatar, finally announced in February 2025 that it had brought immigration officials from Nigeria to handle the backlog of expired passports.
“My friends and I have been living in Qatar for a long time. The Nigerian Embassy here did not previously offer passport renewals, which was affecting the nationals living here. So after several pleas, the embassy later brought immigration personnel to do the renewal for us because many Nigerians were here with expired passports,” the source told SaharaReporters.
“So they came in February 2025 and announced on the platform that those whose passports had expired should come for renewal at the Nigerian Embassy, that the immigration was around.”
According to the source, each person paid 750 Qatari Riyals (around N315,000) with the promise of receiving their renewed passports shortly. However, months later, nothing has been done, and the embassy has stopped giving updates.
The source said, “Each person paid 750 Qatar Riyals, and since then, we haven’t heard anything about it again. Some people went there and they told them they would get back to us. So, that’s what’s happening; till now, we haven’t heard or seen anything about it. “And my friend asked whether I had heard anything from them, and I told him I haven’t. While some people said they were scammers, I was wondering if scammers can be inside the Nigerian Embassy when we didn’t go to ordinary offices.”
Another victim, who had also paid, confirmed that the embassy had no regular passport renewal arrangement before then and only agreed to assist after pressure from the Nigerian community in Qatar. “In this country, there’s the Nigerian Embassy, but they don’t normally issue passports here. So it happened that many people’s passports expired here in Qatar, like 600 people. So people later decided to go to Nigeria directly for their passport renewal.
“Some people later told the embassy that they should help us bring immigration personnel to Qatar to avoid all of us going back to Nigeria.
“The embassy later agreed and brought immigration personnel, and they passed information to us through the Nigerian community here that we should come and register. People registered and paid them money. This was more than five months ago. After collecting the money, the embassy refused to renew the passports and failed to refund us.”
Another Nigerian lamented the hardship the negligence has caused, explaining that expired passports have affected their ability to secure good jobs, maintain bank accounts, or even travel home.
“Because of this situation, we don’t have the entitlement to get better jobs, and we can’t travel anywhere. Even our bank accounts here are almost blocked. Even if we want to come back home, we need to find a lot of money to buy direct tickets,” he said.
The Nigerian emphasised that they did not visit any third-party office but dealt directly with the Nigerian Embassy in Doha. “Nigeria Embassy in Qatar told us to come and renew our passports in February, and they collected 750 Riyals (N315,000) for each person since February. We no longer hear any information from them,” the source said.
“We went inside the Nigerian Embassy to do it. It is not that we went to any ordinary office.” Nigerian Immigration Service Spokesperson, Akinsola Akinlabi, for comment, he said, “I have seen what you sent to me, let me take my time. I’ll get back to you later.”
