UAE visa ban on Nigeria lifted

In a remarkable milestone achievement, the UAE government has finally called off its 21-month standoff UAE visa ban on Nigeria after several rounds of successful diplomatic talks between the two leaders that have been going on for the last two years. The UAE imposed the visa ban on Nigeria after Nigeria couldn’t clear off the foreign exchange owned to International airlines, where the amount was estimated to be close to 137 million dollars.

The UAE visa ban on Nigeria was due to several unresolved issues since October 2022, including manipulation of conduct and several attempts to circumvent the existing visa rules set by the UAE government. This visa ban took a deeper turn when the Nigerian government cut back Emirate flights to Nigeria from twenty-one times to once a week. This move was done as a retaliation to the UAE government’s refusal to permit Nigerian airline Air Peace to fly thrice a week to Dubai, and it was restricted to once a week.

Emirates had no choice but to suspend all flights because of the inability to repatriate funds, as they were losing millions of dollars in earnings away from their country. Since Nigerian President Bola Tinubu took charge of the office in May 2203, he has relentlessly worked to resolve the issues between the national authorities. After several rounds of peaceful discussions, especially with UAE president Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Emirates has finally declared that they will resume all flights to Nigeria after the UAE government declared in May this year that they would resume daily flights to Lagos from this October.

Several Nigerian real-estate developers were key investors in the UAE before the onset of COVID-19. In addition, Nigerians have always been on the top list of travelers to the UAE every year before this ban. Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s information minister, quoted the UAE’s decision to lift the visa ban on Nigeria due to key mutually beneficial negotiations between the two national leaders. He also stated that there would be key updated terms and conditions that all Nigerian citizens must abide by while planning their travel to the UAE shortly.

All Nigerian travelers will be expected to submit their travel documents to verify their identity and mark their travel history, among the key aspects for generating a verification number that can be used in their UAE visa application. Visa applicants under 13 years old do not need to apply for a UAE visa while traveling. Dubai has regularly featured as a tourist hotspot for Nigerians. The lifting of the ban on the Dubai visa for Nigerians and the resumption of the flights will also aid 300+ tonnes of weekly cargo capacity in their passenger flights in and out of Lagos. This move by the UAE government is a significant milestone in the economic and people-to-people ties between the two nations. It will be marked as one of the golden days in their respective history.