CBN e-Form A Online Application Portal and Approval Stages

Are you interested in CBN e form a application online portal, approval stages in Nigeria, and trade monitoring system applicant portal (TRMS) for your abroad school fees payment, Personal and Business Travel Allowance (PTA/BTA), Nigeria Exports Proceeds Form (NXP), and the Non-Commercial Exports (NCX)?

If YES, then this is the only post to read today.

Getting started…

CBN e-Form A’ Application

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

CBN set up the Form ‘A’ to cater for 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 e-Form A application.
• Presently, UBA and Access Bank are the best for Form A in Nigeria.

CBN Form A Requirements

Here are the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requirements for Form A application online:

• A letter of admission from the awarding institution.
• Bank account.
• Bank verification number.
• Business histories such as cash inflow and outflow.
• Email address.
• Letter from your sponsor or guardian who will pay the fee.
• Means of identification.
• Medical consent form.
• Signature of sponsor.
• Tax form.
• Travel details include flight time, day, destination and departure.

Stages of Form A Approval

Here are the stages of form a approval in Nigeria:

1. ADB_REVIEWER

In this stage, the reviewer will carefully check for your details accuracy, verify your account number, and confirm the documents you uploaded on the portal.

Upon approval, your application will be passed to the reviewer’s supervisor.

2. ADB_SUPERVISOR

At this stage, the supervisor checks the details entered and confirms the uploaded documents.

A 16-digit AF-number is created upon approval, and the application is sent to the disbursement team for the cash/transfer approval.

3. ADB_DISBURSEMENT_REVIEWER

In this last stage, the disbursement reviewer looks at the application and approves the disbursement of the funds in cash or transfer.

Also, an email notification will 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.

Trade Monitoring System Applicant Portal (TRMS) 

• The Trade Monitoring System (TRMS) is a web portal designed and developed as a trade facilitation tool for access to trade forms (Forms NXP, NCX, A) and data exchange between stakeholders in the trade chain.
• It’s a multi-stakeholder platform comprising different portals for the various users.
• 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 internet. You can enter your Naira account.
• The transaction timeline still largely depends on the availability of FX in your bank at the time of request.
• You can use it to pay for family member 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.

The 3 different portals include:

1. Applicant

Register on the portal with your Tax Identification Number (TIN) from FIRS or your Bank Verification Number (BVN).

Once concluded, you can fill out your Form A, NCX or NXP.

2. Authorized Dealer Bank (ADB)

Authorized Dealers review submissions of exporters and validate trade forms.

3. Stakeholder/MDA

Pre-Shipment Inspection Agents, Relevant Regulatory Agencies, Shipping lines and Airlines and Nigeria Customs Service.

The TRMS automates three distinct processes which include:

• Form A – Invisible Trades
• Form NCX – Non-Commercial Exports
• Form NXP – Commercial Exports

Form A Processing

Form A focus on invisible FOREX trades such as BTA, PTA and professional fees.

Only 2 stakeholders are involved in this process: the Applicant and the Bank.

• Applicant Registration on Portal
• Bank Approval
• Bank Disbursement

Form NCX Processing

Form NCX focuses on non-commercial trades, such as samples and movement of personal effects.

Only 4 stakeholders are involved in this process: the Applicant, the Bank, the NCS and the Shipping Line.

Registration on TRMS Portal

Here are the steps to register on the trade monitoring system portal:

• Visit the applicant portal.
• If you already have an account, login with your email and password.
• If you do not, click on Register Now.
• When you click on Register Now, it takes you to the Registration Page.
• If registering as an organization, select organization and input your TIN number.
• If registering as an individual, select individual and input your BVN.
• The system sends a One-Time-Password (OTP) to your email which you used to register your BVN or TIN.
• Check your registered email and input the OTP in the field provided.
• The TRMS will take you to a page where to create your password.
• Input your desired password and confirm the password.
• An activation link is sent to your email. Click on the link to activate your account.
• Login into the TRMS using your email and password created.

Validate your TIN number in the trade portal at any FIRS/Joint tax board office.

Update your TIN with an email address and valid phone number.

TRMS Portal Login

• Go to the applicant portal.
• Enter your username (email) and password.
• The system sends a One-Time-Password (OTP) to your email.
• Enter the OTP and click on submit.

Completing Form A

Form A is an application for services (invisible trade transactions).

An individual or organization can use the form A when they require foreign exchange to pay for services outside Nigeria.

Start an application using either the public sector or the private sector.

These services include:

• Business Travel Allowance (BTA)
• Personal Travel Allowance (PTA)
• Educational Fees
• Payment for health services
• Estacodes
• Remittances and Non-Remittance

If you registered as an individual (using BVN), you can only fill out Private Sector Applications.

Organizations (registered using a TIN) can fill out Private or Public sector applications.

Select the application that applies to your sector.

Every application MUST select a TRADE CATEGORY and a TRANSACTION PURPOSE.

Regardless of the selected Transaction Purpose, completing a Form A application comprises going through 5 sets of screens and providing information where required.

These screens are:

• Applicant Information
• Trade Services
• Bank Details
• Attachments
• Preview Form

Rejected Form A Update

For an application to be updated, it needs to be validated by the bank first.

An application can be updated when it has been rejected by the bank and the bank requests the applicant to update their application.

An email will be sent by the bank to you.

Here are the steps to update a rejected Form A:

• An email will be sent to notify you that your form has been saved.
• Log into your portal.
• Pull up the form you want to update.
• Click on the yellow input button at the bottom right of the page to upload more documents.
• Add the document and select the document being attached and submit.
• Update the form and submit.
• Form Stage should change.

Amendment of Form A

The amendment of a FORM A can only be done at the ADB disbursement stage.

So, check to know the stage of your application.

To amend a form, login to the TRMS applicant portal and search for the application you intend on amending.

The application must be validated by the Bank before amendment can be made to it.

Your application then goes to AMEND TED REVIEWER.

Canceling Form A

An application can be cancelled before validation by the Bank and at the ADB disbursement Reviewer stage, which needs approval by TED.

To start the cancelation of a form or application, log into the applicant portal.

Input the reason for cancellation, attach document and submit.

An email will be sent notifying you that your application has been cancelled.

Deleting a Saved Form A

Here are the steps to delete a saved Form A:

• Login to the TRMS applicant portal and search for the application you intend to delete.
• A one-time password is sent to you, which you input into the space provided.
• On the Trade Service Tab, click on Form A.
• Click on history.
• Click on the application number.
• Click on the green action on the top right side of the page.
• Select Delete.
• Confirm that you want to delete the saved application.
• Application is deleted.

Business Travel Allowance

BTA form is used by an organization to apply for foreign exchange for their employees.

A quarterly limit of $5000 per beneficiary is applicable here.

Here are the steps involved:

• Log into the applicant portal.
• Review the basic information and click on NEXT.
• On the Trade Services TAB, click on the Business Travel Allowance (BTA) shortcut or navigate to the BTA transaction purpose field.
• Fill all the required fields properly.
• Attach Documents requested on the document Tab. Documents can be in PDF/JPG/PNG/TIFF form and should not be over 1.99mb.
• Preview your form before submission by clicking on the preview tab at the top right of the page or NEXT at the bottom on the Page.

Personal Travel Allowance

This form is used by an individual to apply for foreign exchange personally.

Only the applicant can be the beneficiary.

A quarterly limit of $4000 is applicable here.

Here are the steps to apply for PTA online:

• Login into the TRMS applicant portal.
• At the Trade Services TAB, click on the Personal Travel Allowance (PTA).
• Fill all the required fields properly.
• Attach Documents requested on the document Tab. Documents can be in PDF/JPG/PNG/TIFF form and should not be over 1.99mb.
• Preview your form before submission by clicking on the preview tab at the top right of the page or NEXT at the bottom on the Page.
• An email will be sent notifying you that your application is being processed.

Educational Fees

This form is used by an individual/company to apply for foreign exchange when they want to pay for tuition/school fees.

Here are the steps involved:

• Login into the TRMS applicant portal.
• At the Trade Services TAB, click on Education Fees.
• Fill all the required fields properly.
• Attach Documents requested on the document Tab. Documents can be in PDF/JPG/PNG/TIFF form and should not be over 1.99mb.
• Preview your form before submission by clicking on the preview tab at the top right of the page or NEXT at the bottom on the Page.
• An email will be sent notifying you that your application is being processed.

Medical Allowance

This form is used by an individual/company to apply for foreign exchange when they want to pay for medical services.

Here are the steps involved:

• Login into the TRMS applicant portal.
• At the Trade Services TAB, click on Medical Allowance.
• Fill all the required fields properly.
• Attach Documents requested on the document Tab. Documents can be in PDF/JPG/PNG/TIFF form and should not be over 1.99mb.
• Preview your form before submission by clicking on the preview tab at the top right of the page or NEXT at the bottom on the Page.
• An email will be sent notifying you that your application is being processed.

Non-Remittances and Others

All non-remittances are valid for forex.

For the public sector, Estacodes are non-remittance while for the Private sector BTA and PTA are non-remittances.

Here are the steps involved:

• Login into the TRMS applicant portal.
• At the Trade Services TAB, click on BTA/PTA/Estacodes.
• Fill all the required fields properly.
• Attach Documents requested on the document Tab. Documents can be in PDF/JPG/PNG/TIFF form and should not be over 1.99mb.
• Preview your form before submission by clicking on the preview tab at the top right of the page or NEXT at the bottom on the Page.
• An email will be sent notifying you that your application is being processed.

Remittance

This form is used by an individual or organization that requires foreign exchange to pay for other services.

In this form, you can select valid for forex as Yes/No as it applies.

Transactions that are not BTA/PTA/Estacodes fall under Remittances or Others.

Here are the steps involved:

• Login into the TRMS applicant portal.
• At the Trade Services TAB, scroll through the trades categories, select the right trade category, and scroll through the transaction purpose dropdown and select the purpose best descriptive of your transaction in a case where you don’t find this, you can select other and fill in the field provided.
• Fill all the required fields properly.
• Attach Documents requested on the document Tab. Documents can be in PDF/JPG/PNG/TIFF form and should not be over 1.99mb.
• Preview your form before submission by clicking on the preview tab at the top right of the page or NEXT at the bottom on the Page.
• An email will be sent notifying you that your application is being processed.

Form A Application Processing

After you fill a form and submit successfully, the form is sent to the approved dealer banks for processing.

At this stage, the form is now an application and, upon validation by the bank, a form number is automatically generated for this application.

Every stage has a two-level authentication process, which is the reviewer and supervisor.

The approver, the ADB reviewer, can either approve or reject the application requesting an update from the applicant.

The reviewer looks at the form to be sure it was filled out correctly and recommends for approval or for rejection.

The ADB supervisor would either accept the reviewer’s action or request for modification.

Note

• PTA and BTA processing may take up to 1-3 business days.
• School fees 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.

Why is my application getting rejected?

If your application was rejected because your phone number was not reflected, the issue is a glitch from 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.

READ ⇒ The Right Ways to Pay School Fees Abroad from Nigeria