The federal government has announced that it has reached an agreement with the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to resume travels for Nigerian passport holders into the UAE.
This was announced by the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris on Monday.
The Minister said, “following successful talks and extensive, mutually beneficial negotiations between the Government of the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, an agreement was reached allowing for the resumption of travel to the UAE for Nigerian passport holders.”
“This agreement includes updated controls and conditions to facilitate obtaining a UAE visa.”
According the Information Minister, the resumption of visas will be effective from July 15, 2024. He then called on Nigerians wishing to learn more about the updated visa conditions from the UAE can visit the website documentverificationhub.ae for any additional information.
The lifting of the visa ban is coming almost two years after the Arab nation slammed a ban on Nigerians seeking to obtain visas to visit UAE. In October 2022, UAE imposed the visa ban shortly after its national carrier Emirates Airline suspended all flight operations from Nigeria due to trapped funds. All trapped funds of Emirate Airlines in Nigeria have now been fully repatriated.
According to information on the website, to visit the UAE with a Nigerian passport, it is now compulsory for the applicant to first get a Document Verification Number (DVN) before he or she can apply for a UAE visa in accordance with the new visa issuance guidelines that the country has put in place.
According to the UAE the regulation is to make sure all the necessary documents are digitally verified and authenticated before visa issuance. However, individuals below the age of 13 do not need DVN for their visa applications.