Travel Essentials · Entry Requirements
Nigeria Visa 2026: e-Visa Only. Visa on Arrival No Longer Exists.
Nigeria scrapped visa on arrival on 1 May 2025. You now need an approved e-Visa in your inbox before you board, and a digital landing card obtained 72 hours before travel. A great many travel sites still tell you otherwise — and following them will get you turned away at check-in.
On this page
What changed, and when
On 21 February 2025 the Nigerian government announced it would end visa on arrival, citing security concerns and saying the system had been exploited. On 1 May 2025 the fully digital e-Visa system went live. On 8 May 2025 the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 — NVP 2025 — was formally introduced, building on the 2020 policy and adding a new Short Visit Visa category delivered entirely online.
The practical effect is a shift from airport discretion to online pre-approval. Under the old system an eligible traveller could arrive at Lagos or Abuja and be dealt with at the desk. Under the new one, the decision is made before you leave home, screened against Interpol and criminal records databases, and the airline checks it at the gate.
The old system forgave the unprepared at the airport. The new one refuses them at the gate, in their home country, before they have even left.
Who needs a visa
ECOWAS citizens — no visa
Nationals of Economic Community of West African States member countries continue to enter Nigeria without a visa. That is unchanged by NVP 2025. If you hold a Ghanaian, Ivorian, Senegalese, Beninese, Togolese, Malian, Burkinabé, Guinean, Liberian, Sierra Leonean, Gambian, Bissau-Guinean, Nigerien or Cape Verdean passport, this page is largely academic for you — though you should still expect the digital entry and exit card system at the border.
Everybody else — e-Visa before departure
All other nationalities require a visa obtained in advance, either through the e-Visa portal or, for categories not handled online, through a Nigerian embassy or consulate. There is no visa-free tourist entry for non-ECOWAS nationals and there is no longer any airport route.
African Union citizens: read carefully. Under the old policy, citizens of African Union member states outside ECOWAS were eligible for visa on arrival. Several websites still say so. They are describing a system that ended on 1 May 2025. If you hold a Kenyan, South African, Ethiopian, Egyptian or other non-ECOWAS African passport, you now need an approved e-Visa before you board like everyone else.
How to apply, step by step
Apply through the Nigeria Immigration Service e-Visa portal. There is a substantial industry of third-party agents charging bundled fees several times the official rate for filling in the same form. Some are legitimate facilitators; none are necessary. Start at the government site.
There are eighteen short-visit classes. Choose the one that genuinely matches your purpose. Applying under the wrong category is one of the most common causes of rejection, and business travellers in particular should note that multiple-entry options exist — worth having if you expect to return.
The portal is strict about file formats and sizes: PDF or JPEG only, and each file under 1 MB. Photographs must be JPEG — a photo submitted as a PDF is rejected. This trips up a remarkable number of applicants.
Approval typically arrives within 24 to 48 hours by email. Print it. You present the printout on arrival, where a visa sticker or endorsement is placed in your passport. Do not rely on showing it on a phone screen.
Approval is not guaranteed, processing can be delayed, and the portal has had technical problems during rollout. Buy changeable tickets, or wait for the approval email.
Documents you will need
Passport
Valid at least six months beyond your arrival date, with at least two blank pages. Nigerian consulates apply stricter rules for some categories — check if applying by embassy rather than online.
Passport photograph
JPEG, white background, taken within the last six months, no glasses. Under 1 MB.
Bank statements
Six months — 180 days — of statements. This is a documented requirement under the current service level agreement and catches out travellers used to lighter checks elsewhere.
Return flight itinerary
A round-trip booking. A one-way ticket without onward evidence is a problem.
Proof of accommodation
Hotel or apartment booking confirmation covering your stay.
Invitation or host letter, where applicable
Required for business and family visit categories. Company documents are the single slowest part of most business applications — request them early.
Yellow fever vaccination certificate
Mandatory. See below.
What it costs
We are going to be straight with you rather than quote a figure that looks authoritative and is wrong for your nationality.
Nigerian visa fees are set on a reciprocity basis — what Nigeria charges your country reflects what your country charges Nigerians. That means the price varies enormously by passport, and no single published number applies to everyone. Reported figures in 2026 range from around one hundred dollars for some nationalities to several hundred for others, with certain categories considerably higher again, and fees were raised in 2025 to fund the new digital processing and security screening.
The only figure you should trust is the one the portal shows you after you select your nationality and visa category. Third-party agents routinely quote bundled prices well above the government fee. If a site gives you a flat global price for a Nigerian visa without asking your nationality, it is either guessing or selling you something.
The landing and exit cards
This is the part most travellers miss entirely, because it is new and it is separate from the visa.
Nigeria has replaced the paper embarkation and disembarkation cards — the forms cabin crew used to hand out before landing — with an automated digital system. Non-Nigerians and dual citizens must obtain their entry or departure card online, 72 hours before travel.
Having a valid e-Visa does not exempt you from this. They are two separate obligations, and the card requirement applies to your departure as well as your arrival. Set a reminder three days before each flight.
Yellow fever — not optional
A valid yellow fever vaccination certificate is required for all travellers entering Nigeria, regardless of nationality or visa type. Get vaccinated at least ten days before travel, since the certificate only becomes valid after that period. Under current World Health Organization guidance the certificate is valid for life — if you were vaccinated years ago, dig out the card rather than paying for a second dose.
Beyond the mandatory requirement, hepatitis A, typhoid and malaria prophylaxis are all sensibly recommended. Malaria is a genuine and year-round risk in Nigeria, not a formality.
Staying longer than 90 days
Short-visit e-Visas are for short visits. If you intend to live or work in Nigeria, you need the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card — CERPAC — which applies to non-ECOWAS nationals resident in the country and is itself being moved onto a fully electronic platform as e-CERPAC, accessible before arrival.
The practical advice from immigration practitioners is consistent: sort the residence route out before you arrive rather than after, because the post-arrival paperwork route is slow and unpleasant. And do not overstay a short-visit visa on the assumption you can regularise it later — overstaying attracts fines and possible deportation.
The mistakes that cost people their trip
Trusting a website that was right in 2024
The single biggest risk. An enormous amount of published Nigeria travel advice still describes visa on arrival as a live option, including some sites updated recently. Check the date on anything you read — including this page.
Booking flights before approval
Approval is quick when it works and there is no guarantee it will work for you on schedule. The portal has had technical difficulties since launch and the policy’s implementation has been described by legal observers as gradual and subject to delays in practice.
Ignoring the 72-hour landing card
Separate from the visa, easily forgotten, and required for both entry and exit.
Uploading files the portal rejects
PDF or JPEG only, under 1 MB each, photograph as JPEG not PDF. Prepare these before you start the form.
Skipping the yellow fever certificate
Mandatory for everyone, and it needs ten days to become valid. This cannot be fixed at the airport.
Nigeria — guided experiences
Your accommodation booking is one of the documents the e-Visa application asks for, so it is worth having your first few days planned before you apply rather than after. Airport transfers from Lagos and Abuja, city tours and guided cultural experiences can all be booked in advance with free cancellation up to 24 hours before most activities.
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Verified: 23 August 2026.
Compiled from the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 introduced 8 May 2025; Nigeria Immigration Service e-Visa system operational from 1 May 2025; International Bar Association analysis of NVP 2025; immigration practice alerts from Fragomen and Envoy Global; and current published guidance on documentation, processing times and entry card requirements. Visa fees are set on a reciprocity basis and vary by nationality; no fee figure is asserted here and applicants should rely on the amount displayed by the official portal for their own nationality and category. Immigration rules change without notice and implementation of NVP 2025 has been described as gradual. This page is independent travel information, not immigration advice — confirm current requirements with the Nigeria Immigration Service or your nearest Nigerian mission before travelling.