Visa On Arrival - Afrikan Heroes

Nigeria ‘s Immigration Service To Issue Visa On Arrival To All African Nationals From January, 2020

December 13, 2019

Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede

Nigeria would starting welcoming nationals from other African countries from January, 2020. Although Nigeria’s President, Mohammed Buhari gave a hint about the plan while attending a peace and development summit in Egypt, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has notified the general public that it has gotten a go-ahead order to issue visa on arrival all Africans coming to Nigeria without Visa from January 2020. To that effect, the Service has launched the Africa–Frontex Intelligence Community (AFIC).

“The tool is actually coming at the right time. AFIC would help African countries especially Nigeria that want to open its border for all Africans to enter at will. And now that tool is available, it would make the work easier for us,” the Comptroller General, NIS, Mr Muhammad Babandede said.

Here Is All You Need To Know

European border and Coast guard Agency also known as Frontex is an agency of European Union (EU) tasked with border control of the European Schengen Area, in coordination with border and coast guard of Schengen area member states.

“ This tool is keen if we want to implement an effective free movement across our border,’’ Babandede said.

“But our duty is unique and you may not see it as it is in Chad, Benin or Cameroon.The essence is that we are very keen and we have been working with EU for a long time. Frontex is in charge of border before they got another responsibility called coast guard which is also very keen to Africa especially checking member state of ECOWAS,” he said.

“I was opportune to be at the Frontex headquarters, and I came with useful tools which are for border and control centre. ”This has brought about the building of border and control centre which will be inaugurated next year. So the analytical system from Frontex, border control system and even mobility would all be in one place,” he said.

Comments:

Although the news may sound misleading, drawing a line between free visa and visa on arrival policy would be a lot significant. Nigeria is only granting visa on arrival to all African nationals and not free visa. Therefore countries like Seychelles and Benin Republic still remain ideal destinations for African nationals who are not required to present any visa to visit the countries. Nigeria is merely joining the league of countries like Madagascar and Somalia that grant visa on arrival to all African nationals.

To put things into perspective, Nigeria’s immigration law still requires immigrants into the country to fulfill certain conditions before entry, although Nigeria’s Minister of Interior is given wide powers to waive entry requirements in certain circumstances.

And of course, an interesting dimension to all this is a provision in the Nigerian Immigration Act that authorizes the minister to order the abolition or suspension of the requirement in Nigeria of a visa or other entry permit by nationals of that other country, where the Minister is satisfied that the Government of any other country or a Minister thereof permits the entry of citizens of Nigeria into that country without requiring a visa or other entry permit.

The under-listed are still the top 20 visa open countries in Africa:

Seychelles — visa free (53)
Benin — visa free (53)
Senegal — visa free (22), visa on arrival (31)
Rwanda — visa free (17), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)
Ghana — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)
Uganda — visa free (18), visa on arrival (34), visa required (1)
Guinea Bissau — visa free (14), visa on arrival (39)
Cabo Verde — visa free (16), visa on arrival (36), visa required (1)
Togo — visa free (14), visa on arrival (38), visa required (1)
Mauritania — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)

Mozambique — visa free (9), visa on arrival (44)
Mauritius visa free — (27), visa on arrival (21), visa required (5)
Kenya — visa free (18), visa on arrival (32), visa required (3)
Comoros — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
Madagascar — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
Somalia — visa free (0), visa on arrival (53)
Djibouti — visa free (0), visa on arrival (52), visa required (1)
Ethiopia — visa free (2), visa on arrival (49), visa required (2)
Tanzania — visa free (16), visa on arrival (25), visa required (12)
Gambia — visa free (28), visa on arrival (0), visa required (2)

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world

Sierra Leone Launches Visa On Arrival

September 10, 2019

As part of efforts by the government and people of Sierra Leone to attract more visitors to the country, boost tourism, and improve their investment climate, the government through the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced a new visa regime for the country. This development makes Sierra Leone the latest African country to latch onto the growing demand for African countries to make ease of movement across the continent a priority. The new Visa regime gives Visa on Arrival (VoA) for all African nationals and other selected citizens from across the world.

Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone

The new regime which takes immediate effect grants visa-free entry for countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) who will benefit from the regional blocs visa-free protocol. Also citizens of other countries that have existing Visa-Free arrangement with Sierra Leone will continue to enjoy visa-free access to the country.

The government of Sierra Leone has been engaging in a series of projects as policy changes aimed at making the country investor friendly and also market its huge tourism potential most of which are quite outstanding , relatively unknown, pristine, making it one of the most beautiful and serene countries in the world. This new Visa regime according to government sources will make visiting Sierra Leone hassle free.

According to the new visa fees, citizens of the African Union member states will enjoy visa-on-arrival but will be required to pay a $25 dollar fee, while citizens of other nations will be required to pay $80 visa fee on arrival. Those covered by this arrangement are United States, United Kingdom, European Union member states and those in BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Others are, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman (the Gulf Cooperation Council nations) as well as citizens of Iran, Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore, Israel, Japan, and South Korea are listed among others.

The Information Minister, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, was quoted as saying: “This is an indication that the new direction is poised to take the country to another level and our latest step in making the country attractive to tourists and foreign investors.”

In Africa, most regional blocs allow easy entry of citizens across their borders. A very effective measure is in East Africa between Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Ethiopia in 2018 also announced a visa free and visa on arrival regime for all Africans. Rwanda has a global measure in that regard. Mauritius has, however, topped the African Development Bank’s visa openness index. At the bottom have been Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.