The Federal Government has reacted to the increase in visa charges for Nigerian citizens by the US embassy by reducing the visa charges for United States citizens coming into the country.
The US Consulate had said yesterday that it will henceforth charge extra fees for Nigerian citizens who are able to secure visas to travel to America as a reciprocatory gesture.
It had said while America charges Nigerians $160 for visa application, its citizens seeking Nigerian visa were paying $110 extra.
In a statement today, Mohammed Manga, spokesman of the ministry of interior, announced that the visa fee of Americans had been reduced.
“The attention of the Ministry of Interior has been drawn to the introduction of reciprocity of Visa Fees by the United States of America. The Ministry acknowledges that there were engagements with the United States Embassy on the issue and in the aftermath, a Committee was set up to conduct due diligence in line with the Ministry’s extant policy on reciprocity of Visa fees,” the statement read.
“The Committee had concluded its assignment and submitted a Report but the issuance of authorisation for its recommendations was delayed due to transition processes in the Ministry at the policy level.
“The Honourable Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has approved the decrease of Visa charges payable by US citizens in line with reciprocity policy as recommended by the Committee.
“Accordingly, the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede, has been directed to implement the decrease in Nigeria’s Visa charges to US Citizens with effect from Thursday, 29th August, 2019.”
The new charge is not stated.
