….Policy takes effect August 1
The Federal Government has announced plans to implement stricter and more transparent measures to overhaul Nigeria’s visa and expatriate quota administration systems.
Minister of Interior, Dr. Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, announced that expatriates who overstay their visas will face severe penalties. Those remaining in Nigeria three months after visa expiration will receive a five-year ban, while those overstaying beyond one year will be permanently barred from re-entering after deportation.
The minister made these declarations during a meeting with the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN) in Lagos. The event, titled “Engagement with the Federal Ministry of Interior on the New Expatriate Administration and Other Reforms,” was held at the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA) headquarters.
Additionally, Tunji-Ojo revealed that Nigeria’s landing and exit cards** will now be fully automated, requiring all foreign visitors to complete the process before entering the country.
“We will automate the paper card. Go online to fill your landing card before flying into Nigeria. The exit card is very serious. It is a weapon to tackle visa over stayers. If your overstay carries penalty, you will pay it. Overstay for three months carries five-year ban; if you overstay for one year, do not come back to this country. People will not come for two weeks’ tourism and stay for three years working in Nigeria,” he said.
The minister said these measures would come into effect from May 1, 2025, adding that a moratorium of three months would be given to allow foreigners to regularise their documentations.
“Penalty system will be activated after August 1, 2025. We cannot have laws without repercussion for disobedience. And I beg you our expatriates, whatever that you cannot do confidently in your home country, do not try it in Nigeria. I beg you that Nigeria is not a dumping ground.
“Please, our hospitality should not have the same dictionary meaning of stupidity. Nigeria will not abandon you. But please do not disgrace and mess up Nigeria,” the minister said.
He said cleaning up the expatriate and visa administration would require implementation of specific policies on the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) and the introduction of a comprehensive insurance scheme that would cover the cost of deporting and repatriating expatriates and end the era of government subsidies.
Other measures, according to him, include the introduction of e-Visa and ensuring that the government recovers expenses on administrating expatriate quota management from fees charged on providing these services.
The minister explained: “The first thing that needs to be done is for us to clear the system in a very transparent manner. So, you must do business in line with the laws of the land.”
He stated that certain things in both process and practice of expatriate administration in Nigeria were not right, especially charging of N300,000 and N250,000 on three years expatriate quota and work permit.
He said: “This is not competitive in any part of the world. This money cannot even buy air ticket for immigration officers to come and examine your business and be sure that it exists.
“My question is: why must the government use tax payers’ money to subsidise expatriate administration?”
He said the government would no longer grant frivolous expatriate quota to companies to bring in waitress, human resource managers and drivers, which are jobs Nigerians could do efficiently.
He also said that gone are the days when companies would engage a secondary school leaver to understudy a university trained expatriate engineer, simply to perpetuate the expatriate’s stay in Nigeria.
“Does it mean that we do not have engineering graduates that can be employed to understudy the expatriate?
“The relationship between us and you should be symbiotic. It should not be parasitic.
“On the issue of quota, I will be a little bit stricter. I was embarrassed when I was shown a quota for a waitress. I was ashamed that it was actually approved in the ministry.
“One of the biggest companies in Nigeria sent a request for an expatriate quota for a driver. How can we do this to our country? Where is patriotism? Where is nationalism?”
“Why will a company bring in an expatriate human resource manager? The government will not tolerate this,” he said.
He also warned those with criminal record not to apply for CERPAC because Nigeria is integrating its CERPAC system to high Interpol 247. So that Nigeria will not be a safe haven for those they are looking for.
He blamed the fact that Nigeria has only 50,000 expatriates on its official record on corrupt practices because the number ought to have been higher.
The minister disclosed that government has been spending billions of Naira on repatriation of foreigners.
“That is tax payers’ money. We have exhausted our annual allocation even though we are in April. We will use our tax payers’ money to build infrastructures and roads and not to repatriate foreigners.
“The option is a bond on insurance. So that if you erred the insurance company takes responsibility of the tickets and everything and the government will not pay a dime.
“There will also be expatriate comprehensive insurance for liabilities that may be incurred by an expatriate. It is in the law. We cannot be sentimental when it comes to nation-building. “We have to take hard decisions that will not hurt your businesses but will give us the Nigeria of our dreams.”
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