The Nigerian Immigration Service has announced procedures for implementation of entry, exit, and visa revalidation for expatriate into the country.
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The development follows the resumption of commercial flight operations at the Lagos and Abuja international airports on 5 September 2020.
The new procedures were contained in a statement issued by the Immigration service on Friday.
The NIS said all expatriates with confirmed return tickets, whose permits expired between March 23 and September 5, 2020 and had been scheduled to exit Nigeria during that period would be granted an extension free of charge.
The concerned expatriates were however directed by the agency to exit the country by September 15 2020.
The NIS noted that all categories of expatriates whose permits or visitor’s passes expired before March 23 2020 are liable to pay a penalty for overstaying based on the number of additional days spent in the country before the lockdown commenced on March 23 2020.
It said, “All resident expatriates whose permits expired while they were outside the country from 23 March 2020 shall be allowed entry into Nigeria with the expired permits, provided they arrive in Nigeria by 25 September 2020.”
The immigration said the affected expatriates must renew their residence permits within 30 days of arrival in Nigeria to avoid sanctions under relevant Immigration laws.
The agency noted that expatriates who had processed payments for Visa on Arrival before March 23 2020 but had not been issued the visas are to apply for re-validation.
The NIS added that the directive applies to applications for other categories of visas from the various Nigerian Missions outside the country.
The Nigerian Immigration Service also told expatriates who had obtained Visa on Arrival Pre-approval Letters and other categories of visas from the Nigerian Missions before March 23 2020, whose approvals or visas expired before September 5 2020 are also to apply for revalidation.
“They are required to send copies of the expired pre-approval letters/visas to cis-evisa@immigration.gov.ng not later than 15 September 2020,” NIS said.
The NIS also directed expatriates who had obtained Temporary Work Permit approvals and were unable to obtain the visas from the relevant Nigerian Mission abroad due to COVID-19 lockdown to submit a complaint through cis-evisa@immigration.gov.ng.