Nigerian government faults new United States of America visa policy

The Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has faulted the recent changes to the United States of America (USA visa policy for Nigerians, stating that Nigeria has not suspended the five-year multiple entry visa option for American citizens.

Penpushing reports that a statement issued on Thursday, from Tinubu’s office pointed out that its recent 90-day single visa entry policy only applies to electronic visas (e-visas), which is a short-term category for tourists and business visitors who wish to avoid the standard procedure.

The United States of America (USA) it is recalled announced that Nigerians applying for non-immigrant visas will now only get single-entry three-month visas instead of a two-year visa validity with multiple entries.

Penpushing further reports that the country Mission in Nigeria, stated that this was to reciprocate Nigeria’s visa policy for Americans, stressing that effectively most non-immigrant and non-official visas for Nigerian citizens will be single-entry with 3-month validity.

The Nigerian presidency, however, declared that the United States of America (USA) claim of reciprocity as the reason for the recent visa policy does not accurately reflect the reality of Nigeria’s current visa policy toward US citizens.

“The Nigerian government has not deviated from granting US citizens a 5-year multiple-entry non-immigrant visa, just as the US has continued to grant the same to Nigerians’, the statement said.

“The 90-day single-entry Visa validity period only applies to the newly introduced e-Visas, a short-term visa category for tourists and business people who may not wish to undergo the standard visa application process and wait’, it added.

“The e-visa replaces the now obsolete Visa-on-arrival, which was inefficient and often used as a means of extortion. The e-visa is a fast, online process that does not require the applicant to go to the embassy. Applicants receive the e-Visa within 48 hours of submitting their application,” the statement read.

Penpushing also reports that Nigerian government The presidency described reports that it stopped issuing five-year multiple-entry visas to the Americans as misinformation and fake news, noting that the government has remained committed to honouring all subsisting bilateral agreements.

“E-visas are a widely adopted global policy in dozens of countries. Although Nigeria has an e-visa policy for citizens of the US and several other countries, the US has not reciprocated this gesture for Nigerians’, the statement added.

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