Nigeria to make visa process ‘customer-friendly’

NIGERIA has announced a
60-day plan that will see
the visa process become
more ‘customer-friendly’ for
both business and leisure
travellers.
Nigerian consul general in
South Africa, Ambassador
Uche Ajulu-Okeke, told TNW
that South African travellers
could soon expect longerterm
visas as well as ‘less
bureaucratic bottlenecks’.
Other improvements include
the ‘harmonisation’ of airport
arrival and departure forms for
foreign visitors.
Travellers will now be
required to fill in only one
form on arrival and not three
separate ones.
The government also said
in a statement that it would
introduce a visa-on-arrival
process for wealthy foreign
investors.
The Ambassador says
the controversial R6 000
repatriation fee for first-time
travellers has also been
scrapped. The repatriation
fee was an administrative
nightmare: travellers had to
make a cash deposit into
the Consulate’s account at
Standard Bank and agents
said most travellers weren’t
reimbursed on their return
to SA despite the Consulate
saying they would be.
The 60-day plan comes
just months after Minister
of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey
Onyeama, said Nigeria would
look into implementing visafree
travel for African travellers
from 2017 onwards (see TNW
September 7, 2016).
The Nigerian High
Commission could not be
reached to answer questions
on whether visa-free travel was
still on the cards. Meanwhile
there is confusion about the
application process. Although
the Consulate in Johannesburg
still refers travellers to Online
Integrated Solution (OIS) for
visa applications, the Nigerian
High Commission in Pretoria
says on its website that it has
“dissociated itself from the
arrangements, requirements
and sundry payments as
advertised by OIS” and
advises visa applicants to
rather visit the Nigerian
Immigration Website for official
guidelines on the application
process.