VisaOfficial passport pages in Burkina Faso disagree on fees and photographs
Current guidance compares a recently updated free-service label with detailed passport charges, child-consent requirements and different processing estimates.
Official announcement date: not established (undated guidance)
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Edited and checked by the VisaWand editorial team
A recent portal entry does not settle the passport charge
Citizens applying for an ordinary Burkinabè passport face a fee discrepancy between official websites. The national Service Public procedure entry, marked updated on 1 November 2026, labels the service free and gives a variable completion time. The more detailed Police and National Identification Office instructions publish a charge. Applicants should obtain the receiving office’s payment instruction before relying on the portal’s free-service label.
This guide compares existing public instructions; the portal update does not establish that a fee waiver was enacted. Its description does not explain exemptions or whether the free label refers only to information or an online step. The entry links to forms and an authority directory, but those links do not resolve the discrepancy on the page itself. Ask specifically whether passport production remains chargeable, which amount applies and whether a separate fiscal stamp is required. An update date alone cannot establish the legal scope of an exemption.
Use the Police checklist for the full supporting file
The National Police passport page lists legalised copies of the birth certificate, nationality certificate and national identity card for adults, alongside a valid criminal-record certificate, three passport photographs, proof of occupation and a 200 CFA franc stamp. It separately states a 50,000 CFA franc production charge. A married woman wishing to include her spouse’s surname must add a legalised marriage certificate.
For children, the Police list includes birth and nationality evidence, parental authorisation and parental identity documents. Its wording says parents’ residence permits replace identity documents where the child lives abroad, and then says parental authorisation is unnecessary in that case. Parents should describe the child’s residence and who will attend when asking the passport office which evidence and consent it accepts.
Personal biometric enrolment remains central to the ONI instructions
The National Identification Office, known as ONI, explains that applicants must appear personally at the Migration Division for a photograph and fingerprint capture. Someone preparing or transporting supporting documents cannot complete those biometric steps in place of the applicant. Its passport page links the requirement to the biometric system introduced on 30 August 2018; that historical date is not a new November announcement.
ONI describes five-year passport validity and lists renewal reasons including expiry, insufficient validity for a long-stay visa, damaged or exhausted pages, loss, theft and corrections to personal details. For a lost or stolen passport it directs prompt reporting to the Migration Division so cancellation can begin. This matters before a person treats a missing document as merely a replacement appointment. For children, ONI requests two photographs measuring 4.5 by 3.5 centimetres and retains parental authorisation, creating a specific consent and photograph question to resolve against the Police list. ONI also accepts passport correction as a renewal reason, including errors in birthplace, birth-record number or parentage.
Allow for conflicting photograph and delivery guidance
The Service Public guide dated 30 January 2026 gives a shorter checklist: valid national identity card, birth extract, four recent identity photographs and a fiscal stamp. It describes processing as generally two to four weeks, depending on the period. That is a planning estimate from that guide, not an individual collection appointment or a guarantee that an application will be accepted with only those four items.
The Police page instead describes 72 working hours for a complete file, with possible variation when passport stocks are insufficient. Applicants therefore have both a photograph-count difference and a delivery-time difference to address. Ask the receiving passport service for its current checklist, accepted photograph format, enrolment appointment and expected collection date before fixing travel. A concise preparation sequence is to identify adult or child status, assemble the fuller identity evidence, clarify consent if applicable, verify payment, attend biometric enrolment and retain the collection instruction. None of these sources establishes an automatic urgent service or a guaranteed passport before a booked departure.
