VisaMauritanian passport holders can renew by smartphone or at a citizen centre
Current-rule guide comparing digital authentication, overseas counter instructions and the fees listed for passport renewal.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
Last verified against linked sources:
Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
Check the six-month renewal threshold and authentication
Mauritanian citizens whose passport has less than six months remaining should check whether to renew through Houwiyeti or a Citizen Reception Centre. The March 2024 passport decree allows both in-person and smartphone applications. It requires a national identification number from the biometric population register and evidence that the renewal stamp duty was paid.
Remote submission depends on successful biometric authentication by facial recognition. If authentication fails, the decree requires an in-person application. It also provides for app notifications to track requests and permits collection by an authorised person where that wish is recorded in Houwiyeti or a document signed before a civil-status officer. Confirm the collection arrangement before arranging someone else's trip: the existence of an application account alone does not authorise any relative to collect the passport.
Follow the embassy instructions for the digital renewal sequence
Mauritania's embassy in Canada describes four digital steps: authenticate through Houwiyeti, capture a photograph meeting biometric standards, select the current country of residence, and pay using recognised Mauritanian electronic wallets. The residence-country selection is therefore part of the process, not a detail to leave set to an old address because the applicant now lives abroad. Review the application information before payment and keep the transaction details with the request.
The embassy's short guide does not specify a Canadian-dollar charge, a guaranteed delivery period or an overseas collection location. It should not be read as an offer of automatic home delivery in every country. For a Canadian applicant unable to determine the receiving or collection arrangement, the same page publishes +1 613 235-1303 and +1 613 237-3283 for the embassy. Establish where the completed passport will be received before relying on a particular travel date or a payment receipt as proof that production has finished.
Distinguish the national fee listing from the overseas counter charge
The government's administrative-procedures portal lists passport renewal under the National Agency for the Population Register and Secure Documents, ANRPTS. It requires the person's national number and says a minor's request is submitted by the legal representative. Citizen Reception Centres receive and deliver the service, while the agency processes the application. A family should establish who is authorised to submit a child's request rather than assume that any accompanying adult can act.
That portal quotes MRU3,000 for an ordinary passport and MRU10,000 for a sixty-four-page passport. It does not specify a processing time. These are the national procedure's listed charges and categories; they are not a verified euro or Canadian-dollar price at every embassy. If a payment screen or overseas office quotes a different amount, ask which passport category and service it covers. The portal identifies ANRPTS as the authority for complaints, which is useful when a request's category or payment cannot be reconciled with the published procedure.
For a Paris counter request, check the appointment and payment method
The Paris embassy's Citizen Reception Centre page gives a specific in-person renewal route. For an expired passport it asks the applicant to attend with the national identification number; for a passport still valid for less than six months it asks the applicant to bring that passport. Both renewal descriptions list EUR73.91 payable by bank card. Do not transfer the page's cash-payment instructions for identity cards or civil-status extracts into the passport payment process.
The centre lists passport requests on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays by prior appointment, while collection of an available passport is possible on working days without an appointment. These are different visits: an available collection slot does not mean a new renewal file can be lodged without booking. The Paris page's physical-attendance instruction and Canada's digital guidance describe different service routes alongside the decree's two permitted methods. Ask the responsible office which route and collection arrangement applies to the actual request. A pending renewal does not itself replace a valid passport for travel or extend a foreign residence permission.
