The office of Nigeria’s president has faulted the recent changes to the US visa policy for Nigerians, stating that Nigeria has not suspended the five-year multiple entry visa option for US citizens.
In a statement issued on Thursday, President Bola Tinubu’s office stated 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.
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PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the US 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.
According to the US Mission in Nigeria, this was to reciprocate Nigeria’s visa policy for Americans.
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“Effective today, most non-immigrant & non-official visas for Nigerian citizens will be single-entry with 3-month validity…” the embassy said on Tuesday.
However, the Nigerian presidency has declared that the US 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.
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“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.
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“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.
“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.
The presidency also described reports that it stopped issuing five-year multiple-entry visas to the US 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 presidency said.
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