With an eye on boosting the economy, Nigeria has eased
the Visa processes for foreigners who wish to visit Nigeria for business and
tourism, by removing some of the bureaucratic bottlenecks.
Nigerians are also beneficiaries of the review.
Henceforth, passport re-issuance has been decentralized and Nigerians do not
any longer need to come to Abuja to get this done.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday, the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the measures were part of
the action plan for the ease of doing business as well as efforts to boost
tourism, within the overall context of the Administration’s economic
diversification agenda.
”The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has reviewed the
requirements for Nigerian visas to make them more customer friendly, and
details of this review are available on the NIS official website,
www.immigration.gov.ng. Types of visas currently reviewed include Visa on
Arrival (VoA) processes, Business Visas, Tourist Visas and Transit Visas,” the
Minister said.
Re-issuance of passports for change of names due to
marital reasons or lost cases have been decentralized to all State Commands and
Foreign Missions to save passport holders from additional costs and
inconvenience of travelling to the Service Headquarters in Abuja
Alhaji Mohammed explained that Business Visas are
available for foreign travelers who wish to travel to Nigeria for Meetings,
Conferences, Seminars, Contract Negotiation, Marketing, Sales, Purchase and
distribution of Nigerian Goods, Trade Fairs, Job Interviews, Training of
Nigerians, Emergency/Relief work, Crew members, Staff of NGOs, Staff of INGOs,
Researchers and Musical Concerts.
He said Tourist Visas are also available to foreign
travelers who wish to visit Nigeria for the purpose of tourism or to visit
family and friends while Nigeria Visa on Arrival is a class of short visit visa
issued at the port of entry, and it is available to frequently-travelled
High-Net-Worth Investors and intending visitors who may not be able to obtain
visa at the Nigerian Missions/Embassies in their countries of residence due to
the absence of a Nigerian mission in those countries or exigencies of urgent
business travels.
The Minister said other actions that have been taken by
the NIS for the ease of doing business and facilitation of travelling for
Nigerians and foreigners alike include the harmonization of multiplicity of
Airport Arrival and Departure Form/Cards into a single form for all agencies of
government to save foreign visitors from the current frustrating practice of
filling 3 different forms or more and the decentralization of Immigration
services to the State Commands
”Re-issuance of passports for change of names due to
marital reasons or lost cases have been decentralized to all State Commands and
Foreign Missions to save passport holders from additional costs and
inconvenience of travelling to the Service Headquarters in Abuja, while
additional 28 offices have been opened for issuance of Residence Permits in
Nigeria, bringing the issuance of Combined Expatriate Residence Permit And
Aliens Cards (CERPAC) closer to the doorstep of employers of expatriates in all
36 states and FCT,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed said the measures by NIS fit perfectly
into the 60-day national action plan for ease of doing business in Nigeria that
was approved recently by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council
(PEBEC), as well as the Administration’s efforts to boost
international tourism.
international tourism.
0 comments:
Post a Comment