CBN e-Form A Application & Approval Stages for International Fees Payment

CBN e-Form A Application  – As directed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), if you want to make payment for your school fees abroad, Personal and Business Travel Allowance (PTA/BTA), Nigeria Exports Proceeds Form (NXP), and the Non-Commercial Exports (NCX), apply on the e-Form A online portal.

What is e-Form A?

e-Form A is an application form provided by the CBN for Nigerians to make payments for services abroad, invisible trade like foreign tuition, foreign training courses, mortgages, and foreign medical bills.

CBN set up Form ‘A' to cater to the sale of foreign exchange to Nigerians who are trading or traveling abroad to have access to affordable foreign exchange currencies, especially the Great Britain Pounds (GBP), US Dollar (USD), and Euro (EUR).

• e-Form A is an electronic form of CBN hard copy Form A processed on the CBN Trade Monitoring System – tradesystem.gov.ng
• With the e-Form A online portal, you can submit your request and upload your supporting documents from the comfort of your home or office.
• A ₦5,000 fee is payable for each e-Form A application.
• A valid Bank Verification Number (BVN) is required to access the Trade Monitoring System for the e-Form A application.
• Presently, UBA and Access Bank are the best for Form A in Nigeria.

How to Register on the Trade Monitoring System (TRMS) Portal

Here are the steps to register on the Trade Monitoring System to pay your school fees abroad, apply for PTA/BTA, and forex to process exports:

• First, as an organization, you must have a TIN (Tax Identification Number). If you are registering as an individual, you must have your email linked to your BVN.
• Visit the Website@ https://www.tradesystem.gov.ng/landing/index.html
• Scroll down and click ‘Go to Portal'.
• For a new account, click ‘Register Now'.
• Choose your category (Organization or Individual).
• Enter your TIN (if an organization) or your BVN (if an individual).
• Choose your password.
• Reconfirm password.
• Click Continue.
• You'll be sent an OTP email to the registered email on your BVN.
• Retrieve the code and submit it.

CBN Trade Monitoring System Application Stages

Stage 1: ADB_REVIEWER

• This is the first stage where the reviewer will carefully check for the correctness of your details, verify your account number, and confirm your uploaded documents.
• Upon approval, the application is passed to the reviewer's supervisor.

Stage 2: ADB_SUPERVISOR

• This is the second stage, where the supervisor checks the filled details and confirms the uploaded documents.
• Upon approval, a 16-digit AF-number is generated, and the application is forwarded to the disbursement team to approve the disbursement of the cash/transfer.

Stage 3: ADB_DISBURSEMENT_REVIEWER

• This is the last stage, where the disbursement reviewer takes a last look at the application and approves the disbursement of the funds in cash or transfer.
• An email notification will also be sent to the applicant immediately.

In summary, here's the process flow:

• You submit your application and upload supporting docs.
• The branch first and second-level reviewers confirm tkt, review uploads, and approve.
• Your application goes to the bank head office's tray for FX disbursement.
• Once done, the branch pays you your cash and stamps your passport.

How to Apply for Personal Travel Allowance and Business Travel Allowance

• Login TRMS portal.
• Click Start Application.
• Select PTA/BTA.
• Enter all necessary travel details.
• Upload your travel documents (return flight ticket, visa page, and international passport data page).
• Upload the company's letter of nomination and certificate of incorporation (in the case of BTA only).
• Enter your bank account number to debit.
• Select your bank from the drop-down.
• Select the bank branch you prefer for the transaction.
• Submit.

How to Apply for School Fees

• Login TRMS portal.
• Click Start Application.
• Select Educational Fees.
• Choose School fees.
• Enter all necessary student and school details.
• Upload documents (international passport data page, provisional admission letter, school invoice, WAEC/first degree certificate).
• Upload the sponsor's identification (if you're paying through a sponsor).
• Enter the school fees amount (max $15,000 per semester).
• Enter the bank account number to debit.
• Select the preferred bank from the drop-down.

How to Apply for Upkeep

• Login TRMS portal.
• Click Start Application.
• Select Educational Fees.
• Choose Upkeep.
• Enter student and school details.
• Upload documents (student's international passport data page, provisional admission letter, WAEC/first-degree certificate, sponsor's identification, sponsor's letter of authority to debit).
• Enter the upkeep amount (max $5,000 per semester).
• Enter the bank account number to debit.
• Select the preferred bank from the drop-down.
• Submit.

How to Apply for Medicals Bills Payment

• Login TRMS portal.
• Click Start Application.
• Select Medical Allowance.
• Fill all details.
• Upload documents (return flight ticket, visa, international passport data page, specialist's letter of recommendation for treatment in the destination hospital).
• Attach the sponsor's authority to debit (if the patient is paying through a sponsor).
• Enter the bank account number to debit.
• Select the preferred bank from the drop-down.
• Submit.

Note

• PTA and BTA processing may take up to 1-3 business days.
• School fee processing may take up to 1-3 weeks.
• Upkeep processing may take up to 1-3 weeks.
• Medical allowance processing may take up to 1-3 weeks.
• You can follow up with your bank using your AF number.
• One is eligible to get PTA/BTA, even when going to a visa-free country.
• Your password should be a mix of capital letters, small letters, numeric, and special character(s). No less than 8 characters altogether. For example, a ‘Password1234+' would be admissible.
• During registration, if you are shown this message “BVN found, but without an email address, kindly refer to your bank for help”, just fill out a BVN update form in your bank to link your BVN to your email.

About Trade Monitoring System Portal

• The Trade Monitoring System Portal is a CBN/FG-run portal.
• The portal is not used to debit accounts or run any form of transaction on your bank account (the bank still does that from their own system); it is only used to receive your Form-A/NCX request.
• The portal is accessible wherever there is the internet. You can enter your Naira account.
• The transaction timeline still largely depends on the availability of FX in your bank as of the time of the request.
• You can use it to pay for a family member's school fees with your own account detail. Ensure to add your valid ID and instruction to debit to the list of the student's documents.

Why is my application getting rejected?

If your application was rejected because your phone number was not reflecting, the issue is a glitch in the portal.

• Add your phone number to the editable ‘address' field, e.g. “LAGOS/08012.”. This ensures that the reviewers can actually view the phone number, not just in its appropriate field.
• Upload a copy of your BVN slip as part of the documents to prove that the phone number is linked to BVN.

Final Words

The new Trade Monitoring System Portal is highly effective, as you can pay for your school fees, mortgages abroad, training courses, utilities abroad, life insurance premiums, and overseas credit card payments with e-Form A.

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