Nigeria's New Visa Policy: Here's everything you need to know

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has rolled out the new Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP).
It was lauched on Tuesday, February 4, 2020.
Business Insider SSA has compiled a list of everything you need to know.

A new Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) has been officially launched. It was rolled out by President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.

Here is everything you need to know:

Designed to beat hackers and corruption

The NVP 2020 is a global visa system with biometrics linked to each application online. The biometrics will be conducted at the port of entry to reduce the chances of criminals beating the system.

Since the system is automated, it also leaves very little room for corruption.

President Muhammadu Buhari launches new visa policy to boost economy. [Twitter/@BashirAhmaad] Pulse Nigeria

3 visa categories

The new policy has three visas: short visit, temporary, and permanent residence. It also has 79 visa classes, unlike the previous one which had only six.

2020 Nigeria Visa Policy (NVP) Pulse Nigeria

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Special allowance for Nigerians living abroad

The NVP 2020 has special visas for Nigerians by birth living abroad with dual citizenship.

According to the Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, "the new visa policy will be helpful to diaspora Nigerians by birth who can now use other passports to visit the country because some countries do not allow dual citizenship."

He added, "The NVP 2020 introduces special visas for Nigerians in diaspora who either by birth, marriage or nationalization have assumed dual citizenship. Such category of Nigerians will now be able to make use of the passports of their adopted countries to visit Nigeria without the need for short stay visa."

Set to improve Nigerias economy

In President Buhari's words, "The Nigeria Visa Policy 2020 is intended to attract innovation, specialized skills and knowledge from abroad to complement locally available ones…it will support the attainment of a globally competitive economy for Nigeria by building on the efforts of the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council. The policy is expected to improve the business environment, attract Foreign Direct Investment and boost tourism without compromising national security.”

Makes Nigeria more attractive for tourists

In November 2019, the president announced that all African travellers will be granted visas on arrival from January 2020.

This visa on arrival can only be issued only at airports, not at land borders. It is specifically for short visits.

Special short Visa class (single entry) favours certain people

Nairametrics reports that Journalists, Clerics, Sportspeople, Artists/Entertainers/Musicians, Religious Tourists, Humanitarian Workers, etc are some of the people favoured by this class.