Nigeria

The standard online route for tourism, family visits, conferences, contract negotiations and short business meetings, filed at visa.immigration.gov.ng (the Nigeria Immigration Service portal) before travel. Documentation: passport scan with at least six months' validity and two blank pages, recent passport-style photograph, return or onward ticket, hotel booking or sponsor's address, the visa fee (which varies by nationality and is confirmed on the portal at application), valid yellow-fever vaccination certificate, and for business applicants a letter of invitation from the host company. Approval is delivered as a printable e-Visa to be presented at the airport.

Available at Lagos (MMA) and Abuja (NAIA) airports against a pre-issued approval letter from the Nigeria Immigration Service. Travellers apply online before flying, receive the Visa-on-Arrival approval (typically issued within a few business days), present it together with passport, return ticket, accommodation evidence and yellow-fever certificate at immigration on arrival, and pay the fee on the spot. Eligibility is published by the Nigeria Immigration Service and includes business travellers from approved countries, frequent visitors and emergency-medical cases. Without the prior approval, this route is not available.

Citizens of fellow ECOWAS member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo) enter visa-free under the ECOWAS regional free-movement protocol. Standard documentation at the border is a valid passport (or ECOWAS travel document), proof of onward travel and the yellow-fever vaccination certificate. Long stays beyond the regional protocol convert to a residence permit application in Nigeria.

The standard route for new expatriate professional hires by Nigerian-registered companies. The employer files the expatriate quota and STR application with the Ministry of Interior; the employee applies at the Nigerian embassy of residence with passport, qualifications, the offer letter, the company's expatriate-quota approval, references, photographs, the visa fee and the yellow-fever certificate. After arrival, the holder regularises the status to the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) within ninety days. Concentrated demand around oil and gas (Niger Delta, Lagos, Port Harcourt), telecoms, construction, banking and the international development sector.

For short-term professional assignments — installation, training, equipment commissioning, audits, consultancy and similar specialist tasks not exceeding the published TWP duration. The Nigerian host company applies in advance to the Comptroller-General of Immigration; the approved TWP cable is sent to the Nigerian embassy or used at the airport at entry. Documentation: passport, photographs, the TWP cable reference, the contract, the host company's papers, the visa fee and the yellow-fever certificate.

For full-time studies at universities and recognised institutions registered with the National Universities Commission (NUC) — the University of Ibadan, the University of Lagos, Ahmadu Bello University, Obafemi Awolowo University, the University of Nigeria Nsukka, the American University of Nigeria in Yola, Covenant University and many others. The institution issues the admission letter; the student applies at the Nigerian embassy of residence with passport, admission letter, evidence of fee payment, financial means, photographs, the visa fee and the yellow-fever certificate. Spouses and minor children may follow on a dependant visa.