Required documents
The following documents are to be submitted:
- Original Certificate of Nationality plus a copy
- Original Birth Certificate plus a copy
- Certificate of residence (Meldebescheinigung)
- Three (3) passport photos
- A form for the person to inform if necessary (to be filled at the Embassy)
- A photocopy of the marriage certificate (translated into French by an approved translator) for married women, desiring to use their husband’s name
- In case of lost or stolen passports, provide a certificate of loss or theft established by the local police and translated into French by an approved translator
- An application fee of one hundred and thirty Euro (130 €)
- Photocopy of the first three (3) pages of the expired or about to expire passport
Practical information and useful advices
For technical reasons, the Embassy does not issue passports. It carries out however all relevant formalities and forwards the complete and accurate files to the competent authorities in Lomé.
The General Directorate of National Documentation (Direction Générale de la Documentation Nationale - DGDN), through its Passport and National ID Card’s head office, has the responsibility of issuing passports and ID cards after a careful study of application files. Investigations are conducted in case of doubt or suspicion as regards the authenticity and accuracy of the submitted documents.
While having the mission of issuing passports, the DGDN also fights against fraud, documents’ falsification and the possession of more than one passport or ID card by a single person or under false identities.
To avoid your file being rejected or unnecessary delay in its processing use only authentic and accurate documents.
The passport issuing office is therefore a centralized technical office and fully computerized. The DGDN issues passport for all Togolese citizens including those living abroad.
In any case the required documents must be accurate and authentic, that is, free of any suspicion.
It should be noted that pictures of children are no longer stuck in their parents’ passport. Each child is required to have its own passport which is issued under the same conditions listed above.
No exception is made in regard to the required documents: every passport application file must contain all the documents listed above.
If necessary, get the missing document done by the competent authority prior to the submission of the passport application file.
Note that only complete application files are acceptable at the Embassy.
A thorough study of the authenticity and accuracy of the submitted documents is done later by the Passport and National ID Card’s head office in Lomé.
Due to the current registration system, the presence of the applicant at the Embassy is necessary for fingerprint formalities and other identification information.
The Honorary consulates are no longer authorized to receive passport applications.
A certificate of passport application submission is issued to all those whose applications are received by the Embassy.
Collection
The originals of the Certificate of Nationality and Birth Certificate are returned together with the issued passport to their owners who will have to come for them personally at the Embassy and sign. The issued passport has a five-year validity. The average time for the entire process, up to the delivery of the document, varies from two to three months for all properly constituted applications, that is, including authentic and accurate documents.
Extension
At this stage the Togolese passport is not extended after expiration. A new passport is simply issued to the applicant, by way of extension or renewal, after the previous document has expired. It is advisable to undertake the formalities for obtaining a new passport only during the last three months preceding the expiration of the passport. Any action before this time limit may be tantamount to an attempt to obtain and hold two passports at the same time.
Important recommendations
- A passport is strictly personal and must be signed by the holder. It cannot be lent nor be the object of a conveyance by post
- It is prohibited to make scratch, correction, deletion, alteration, or additional entries or blank sheets into it. Any modification not performed by the qualified authority for its delivery or renewal renders this document void
- In case of loss of passport or its destruction, the owner must immediately notify the office that issued it, or failing that, the nearest competent consular administrative authority
- The owner must, before traveling abroad, verify the conditions under which the passport allows him to enter the countries of destination and transit, obtain from the competent foreign consulate(s) the required visa. He will also have the greatest interest in finding out about the duration of the stay allowed by his passport or visa and possibly the requirements for carrying out a professional activity
- The passport holder must also have to inquire about money transfer or way of acquiring means of payment in foreign currency in order to have sufficient funds for his stay abroad and his return, the Togolese consulates being incapable of taking care of his repatriation
- The renewal or extension of an expired passport during a stay abroad must be requested at the nearest Togolese consulate
- The passport holder must register himself at the Togolese consulate within three months of his arrival in a consular district, if he is settling abroad
|
