It’s taken just a day for the Nigerian Government to
respond to the US President Donald Trump administration’s latest visa clampdown
measure on Nigerians.
Nigeria has reduced visa fees for Americans
traveling to Nigeria from $180 to $150 in response to the US embassy’s
introduction of a “reciprocity fee” for Nigerians. The US embassy claims the
new reciprocity fee, ranging from $80 to $303 and only to be paid for approved
visas has been introduced to “eliminate that cost difference” between visa
application fees for both countries.
The move was in line with a Trump executive order
in 2017 for the US secretary of State to, among other things, adjust fee
schedules “to match the treatment of United States nationals” by other
countries. The US embassy claimed it has been in talks with Nigerian
authorities for 18 months to align visa fees.
For its part, Nigeria’s government says the
decision to lower visa fees for American applicants was taken months ago but
was not implemented given the transition in government. (Nigeria’s president
Buhari only inaugurated a new cabinet last week after winning reelection for a
second term in February).
It’s unclear if the new visa fee reduction for
American applicants to Nigeria will also see the US Embassy revise its
reciprocity fee structure for Nigerians.
Some international business people and tourists
from countries including the United States have long complained about the high
expense of Nigerian visas and the difficulty of obtaining them. The Buhari
government has targeted improving this with programs including visa-on-arrival
for business people and potential investors. Yet, Nigerians also face
challenges with the US visa application process, which is renown for its
intensive paperwork (even for short stay visas) and involves daunting consular
interview sessions that often end in vague reasons for application rejections.
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