Nigeria eases visa rules, immigration processes to attract foreign investments

The Federal Government of Nigeria is making convenient the processes of visas and immigration to attract foreign direct investments with intent to hasten the revival of the country’s economy.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture,  said on 26 February in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, that the move was a constituent of the action plan for doing business easily in the West African country in keeping with the present dispensation’s agenda to diversify economically.

He said that the NIS (Nigeria Immigration Service) had taken other steps to improve tourism, including streamlining of departure forms or cards, airport arrivals, to alleviate the pressure of foreigners who have to file many documents and to decentralise services.

Mohammed was quoted by the Guardian as saying that the re-issuance of passports to people who have changed their names owing to marital reasons or misplacements were decentralised to help passport holders not to spend more than necessary and increase their travelling convenience to the service headquarters, which is located in Abuja. In addition, they have opened 28 offices to issue residence permits in Nigeria, thereby making the issuance of CERPAC (Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Cards) easier for employers of expatriates in the Federal Capital Territory and all the 36 states.

Mohammed added that the NIS had gone over the requirements of Nigerian visas in order to make the services friendlier for customers and that these review details were available on the Nigerian government website. Reviewed presently were VoA (Visa on Arrival) processes, tourist, business, and transit visas.

He stated that business visas would be made available for foreign nationals who intend to visit the Federal Republic of Nigeria to attend conferences, meeting and seminars and for marketing, contracts, training, job interviews, welfare causes, etc.

Tourist visas would be easily accessible for travellers who arrive as tourists or to visit families and friends. On the other hand, issued at the port of entry would be the VoA which is for high-net-worth investors who visit Nigeria frequently and other visitors who may not get visas at missions of Nigeria in their own countries.

If you are looking to travel to Nigeria, contact Y-Axis, premier immigration consultancy firm of India, to apply for a visa from one of its several offices located all over the country.