Visa overstayers in Nigeria to face $15 daily fine, lifetime ban from August
The Nigerian government has introduced a new immigration policy aimed at curbing visa overstays, with penalties including daily fines and re-entry bans as part of broader immigration reforms.
Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, unveiled the policy during a stakeholders' meeting held on Friday, April 11, at NECA House in Lagos. The event focused on updates to the Nigeria Visa Policy 2025 and revisions to expatriate quota regulations.
Under the new rules, effective May 2025, foreign nationals who overstay their visas will be fined $15 per day. However, enforcement will begin in August, following a three-month grace period to allow affected individuals to regularize their stay or make appropriate travel arrangements.
“From first of August, anybody that does not take advantage of the amnesty period of three months, penalty will come,” Tunji-Ojo said. “But if you take advantage of that window to regularise, we will not charge you. Because the whole idea is not to punish you, the whole idea is for us to regularise.”
He warned that foreign nationals who overstay their visas by more than three months will be banned from re-entering Nigeria for five years. Those who remain illegally in the country for over a year without rectifying their status during the amnesty period will face a lifetime ban.
“From first of August, if you [overstay], it’s $15 per day and if you have stayed more than three months, five years, abeg we don’t need violators in Nigeria,” he added. “And if you have stayed more than one year without coming forward during the amnesty period, abeg don’t come to Nigeria again for life.”
In addition to these visa measures, the minister announced the full digitalization of the Combined Expatriate Residence Permit and Aliens Card (CERPAC) process, scheduled to go live on May 1. The move aims to modernize the application system, eliminating manual forms and allowing applicants to complete and pay for the process online via the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) website.
“We are automating it end to end. Because as it is today, the procedure is that you have to go to buy a form. When you buy a form, you pay at the bank, and take the form to CERPAC centre. There’s no country in the world that does that,” Tunji-Ojo said.
He emphasized that individuals with criminal records should refrain from applying, warning that the new system will be linked to global security databases, including INTERPOL. “This place is not safe for you. Go back,” he cautioned.
The Minister also announced that, in line with international standards, employers will now be held accountable for the immigration status of their foreign employees. “By our laws, we will be holding employers responsible from the ground up. That’s how it’s done across the world,” he stated.
