The federal government of Nigeria through the office of the interior minister has reviewed its visa fee payable by citizens of the United States.

In a statement issued by the government, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIC), Muhammad Babandede was directed to implement this with effect from Thursday, August 29, 2019.

“The 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,” the statement reads.

This move comes after it was recently announced by the U.S government that Nigerians will be required to pay a visa issuance fee or reciprocity fees.

Nigerian applicants travelling for tourism, study and business visas will now be required to pay an extra $110 (N33,770) for visa issuance. While applicants trying to secure a work permit visa will be required to pay an extra $303 (N93,021) if given visas, while those applying for H4 Visa (dependency/spousal) will pay a $180 (N55,260) fee. These new charges are separate from the original visa application fee.

According to U.S authorities, the reason for this development is because, for a while now, requests had been made for the Nigerian government to review the visa fee charges for U.S citizens. While no response was given, it appears they went ahead to consider a tit-for-tat policy by revising their own visa charges.

“After eighteen months of review and consultations, the government of Nigeria has not changed its fee structure for U.S. citizen visa applicants, requiring the U.S. Department of state to enact new reciprocity fees in accordance with our visa laws.”

In light of this, the Nigerian government has responded to recent actions. Minister Aregbesola also didn’t fail to acknowledge that there were several engagements on the matter. The ministry had set up a panel to look adequately into it, before arriving at a conclusion regarding the U.S visa charges.

These deliberations led to a visa fee reduction, and hopefully, U.S authorities might follow suit by reviewing the latest issuance charge.

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